The Dragon's Cave and Other Adventures
by Leapingspirit
Summary: Summary inside. And I don't want any reviews about spelling! I was in a rush. R&R rated for later chappies.
1. The Valley and Hinata

The Dragon's Cave 

Ch.1

They are all still genin. Well, except Shika-kun that is! And I'm going to give Naru-kun some new jutsu, so not comments like 'Hey! He doesn't have that!' Or, 'He doesn't know that jutsu!' K?

Summary: It is winter in Konoha, and things have been peaceful. But on Christmas day, Hinata is stuck in a dragon's cave during a blizzard with Naruto. Will they get out of this alive?

NaruHina through and through

Disclaimer: I do not own any Naruto characters. But I do own the dragon. X3!

Snow, cold, and more snow! If much more of the white powder fell, Naruto would explode! Our favorite blond was walking through the village streets, heading for the forest. It might have been the day before Christmas Eve, but he was a ninja! And ninjas didn't halt their training because of a holiday, or that's what the young genin said anyway. Kicking another snow bank, he continued on his way. He knew of a valley with a large cave nearby that he liked to go to to train. There was a small lake in the center, so he could train with his chakra control. Little did he know that everyone's favorite stalker girl was not far behind him. (Hinata: I'm not a stalker! Me: Sure you ain't. The same way that Naruto's name doesn't mean spiral fishcake. I'm never going to let him live that down.)

Creating several Shadow Clones, Naruto walked onto the lake and started to spar with them. He had originaly thought that there was something strange about the clearing. Whether it was the burn marks on the trees and lake shore, or the huge claw marks on the ground and hill sides he didn't know, but had shrugged it off after a few visits. After getting rid of the last of the clones, Naruto trotted to the lake shore and layed down in the snow. Hinata meanwhile, was still watching her crush from the shadow of one of the many trees around the edge of the small valley.

As it started to snow again, Naruto regretfully stood back up and made his way slowly home, ignoring the glares of the villagers. He could have sworn on more than one ocation that he heard a low growl coming from the cave, but passed it off as something that his imagination had come up with; or Kyuubi complaining again. Sighing, Naruto trodded up the stairs to his small apartment. Unlocking the door, the fox boy walked into the dark living room. Not bothering to even turn a light on, he stumbled through the messy room and into his even messier (if that's even possible) bed room. Stripping down to his boxers, Naruto leaped into his small, worn, used bed and begged sleep to claim him.

Naruto's dreams were haunted by a shadowy figure, with claws the size of a large branch, and fangs that could crunch off the fourth's head on the Hokage Monument. He couldn't make out what it was, but glowing, icy blue eyes that seemed to stare into his very soul, made him shudder. The creature opened its mouth, and spewed a pillar of ice blue fire.

Naruto awoke with a jolt, panting. His hair was even messier than normal, and his bed was dishevled. Looking at the clock, he saw that it was about 9:32 in the morning. Deciding to do some last second Christmas shopping, Naruto quickly got dressed, and raced outside. He nearly killed himself going down the stairs, and tripped over a strange square rock. Sighing, Naruto kept walking. The rock followed. He ran, and the rock followed. An idea struck him, so he stopped and said to no one in particular, "Man, I'm tired! I need to take a rest." and sat on the rock, earning himself a series of grunts. "Alright Konohamaru! I know that you're there."

Konohamaru with Moegi and Udon threw the 'camoflauge' cover off and stood up. "As expected from my arch rival! You're good boss, how'd you know that we were there?"

_'What, has he been hanging around with Gai-sensie and Lee lately?!' _Naruto thought to himself. "For one thing, rocks aren't perfecly square, or rectangular. And for another, I could freakin here you! You were giggling and snuffling and all sorts of other things!" Scratching his head, Naruto sighed and started walking to his original destination, a simple Christmas gift shop that was the only one that had people nice enough to not throw him out, or give him broken pieces of crap. When he entered, he found Hinata standing inside too. Passing it off as a coincidence, Naruto walked slowly down the isles, every now and then, picking something up that he thought his friends might like. He wasn't expecting anything in return, he never did. But every year at Christmas, Valentine's Day, and his birthday, he would find a simple, unnamed gift outside his door.

The only clue that he ever got was the scent of lilacs and lilys. It was a scent that the blonde had come to love, now if only he knew who it belonged to.

As he went to the register, he ran into Hinata again, and got the scent of lilacs and lilys caught in his sensitive nose. Hinata blushed as she noticed Naruto, and started to tap he index fingers together in a nervous gesture. "H-hello N-Naruto-k-kun." she stuttered, cursing her weakness.

"Hi Hinata. What are you doing here?" said Naruto, trying to force that intoxicating smell out of his nose and out of his head. Hinata's blush increased ten fold, and she gulped.

"B-buying C-Christmas gifts f-for my f-f-friends. I-is that w-what you're doing N-Naruto-kun?"

Naruto nodded sulenly, and replied with a simple yes. He did not expect that he was one of Hinata's friends, and did not expect a present from her either. Checking out with Hinata, he offered to walk her home. The poor girl nearly fainted at the request, but nodded. Naruto brightened at the thought, thinking that this was a sign that he was one of her friends. In Hinata's mind, he was much more than that.

When they reached the Hyuuga complex, Hinata nervously invited Naruto in for some tea, and lunch.

"Well, I wouldn't want to be a bother. I know how your father is. I met him not long ago." muttered Naruto.

"N-no bother a-at all. C-come on." She led him into the compound, much to the displeasure to the guards, and inside. Naruto took off his orange coat, and hung it neatly on the coat rack. Underneath was a dark green, almost black, little less than body tight t-shirt. Hinata blushed as she looked Naruto up and down, trying to hold back a nosebleed. (Me: Ooooh! The shy one is having dirty thoughts! Hinata: Am not!) A dry cough brought their attention to the other side of the room. Hiashi, Hinata's father was standing there, glaring at them both. (Me: God, I hate him! Hinata and Naruto: We agree.)

"Hinata?" he said coldly. "Why did you bring this abomanation into my home? He is a disgrace to the village." Naruto glared at him hard enough to rival a sake happy Tsunade woken up from a nap and handed a mile high pile of paper work.(Scary) Hinata just looked at the ground.

"I-it was cold, f-father. I i-invited him in f-for some t-tea." she mumbled. She glanced at Naruto and noticed that his eyes were changing from blue to red rappidly, as though he was fighting and inner battle. (Me: Irronic, ain't it. Naruto: Would you shut up and type! Me: Alright! No need to get pissy at me, you get to show your stuff next.) Hiashi-teme just smirked.

"Would you like to hear the truth about this demon, Hinata? The real truth?"

"Shut up, bastard. I swear, if you tell her, I'll kill you!" growled Naruto, literaly. Hinata gasped at Naruto's tone, and that he would stand up to her father like that.

"What did you say, monster? You have no right..."

"I HAVE EVERY RIGHT!!! Do you have any idea, any idea at all; what sort of pain that you are causing Hinata? Heh, I don't think that you even care about her." Naruto's eyes were quite literaly blood red now. The whisker marks on his cheeks were more defined, and his teeth and finger nails had turned into fangs and claws. A red chakra started to swirl around him, and he glared at Hiashi harder than before. "Hinata, I suggest that you back up about twenty feet. I'm going to give this bastard father of your's what for." said Naruto, and Hinata, smartly, did as she was told.

Naruto lunged at Hiashi, but was easily dodged. He quickly created about twenty shadow clones. They all charged at the Hyuuga head, but were easily destroyed. Naruto himself was hit in the back, and fell to the ground, and coughed up several mouthfuls of blood. "Time to call in the big guns." he said to himself. Then he said to Hiashi, "You want to meet the real monster? **Summoning of the Nine-Tails!**" Hiashi's pale eyes widened as Naruto slammed his hand down on the ground, and when the smoke cleared, and horse sized, red furred, red eyed, nine-tailed kitsune was standing in its place with Naruto on its back. "Kyuu, Hiashi. Hiashi Kyuubi. Now lets see how you fare against him." Kyuubi grinned a toothy fox grin and, with a howl, charged Hiashi. Naruto meanwhile was forming a rasengan in his palm. "Hold 'im down Kyuu! I need a straight shot!"

"GOT IT!!" Kyuubi tackled Hiashi and pinned him to the ground. Naruto leaped into the air and came crashing down on Hiashi, shoving the rasengan into his side. Leaping off of the defeated Hyuuga head, Naruto and Kyuubi smirked down at him.

"I held back, be thankful. Next time, I'll let Kyuu here use you as a rag doll." Naruto said. He was spent, he had used too much chakra with summoning Kyuubi, and the shadow clones and rasengan. Some of the servents came to bring Hiashi to the hospital, and as he was brought out he whispered omonously to Hinata, "You are no longer a part of this family. Get your thing and get out." Hinata broke down in tears, colapsing on the floor, sobbing. Naruto rushed to her side, with Kyuubi not far behind. He may have been a town destroying demon, but he had come to care for the young blonde, and those around him. And besides, even demons had soft sides to them.

"Hinata, I'm so sorry. I never ment to cause trouble. I just lost control of my actions." whispered Naruto.

"I-it's not y-y-your fault N-Naruto-kun. I-I know you w-were just t-trying to help." sobbed the Hyuuga girl. "B-but, where w-will I go? I don't k-know what t-to do." Hinata sobbed into Naruto's shirt, for once not caring that she was that close to him. Naruto just stayed put as she cryed, not knowing what to do either. He looked to Kyuubi for help, like he normaly does in this situation. Kyuubi seemed lost in thought.

"Well... You could stay with me and the kit. I'm sure he wouldn't mind, but, the apartment is small. Hardly big enough for him." stated the nine-tailed demon. It was true, Naruto's apartment was very small, he might have to sleep on the couch, so Hinata could be comfortable. He looked at Hinata, who had stopped sobbing into his shirt, and seemed to be concidering. Suddenly, reality hit her like a ton of bricks, and she fired into a full blush. The mere thought of living with her life long crush was enough to make her faint, but she kept it together, and nodded a small nod.

Naruto sent Kyuu to gather Hinata's things, while they made their way slowly to Naruto's apartment. Kyuubi had also said that he would bring the presents that they had bought, before he had headed up to Hinata's room. As they walked, both were lost in thought. For once, Naruto didn't even see the dirty looks he got, or hear the curses thrown at him. His mind was on Hinata, and what had happened at the Hyuuga complex. When they reached his apartment, Naruto quickly unlocked the door, and ushered Hinata inside. After he flipped on the lights, he found Kyuubi, and about six other kitsunes, crowded in the now, clean, apartment. Blinking, Naruto stared around him.

"Uh, what is going on here?"

"Oh! Since you were going to be having a new house guest, me and the boys decided to clean the place up a little." said the fox. He nodded to the other kitsunes, and they disappeared back to the demon world.

"N-Naruto-kun? H-how do you k-know Kyuubi?" asked Hinata nervously. (Me: What else is new? Naruto: I thought I told you to shut up!) Naruto looked at her fearfuly, then at Kyuu.

"You're gona have to tell her sometime, kit. This is the perfect time, a mood killer, but the perfect time. If you need me, you know where to find me!" with a surge of red chakra, Kyuu disappeared, back into Naruto's body.

_**Ok! Next chappie will be, the rest of Christmas Eve, and Naruto's comfetion. Among other things!**_

_**Hinata: Why d-did you do another c-cliffhanger?**_

_**Naruto: Yeah! You know how I hate those!**_

_**Hinata: What does that m-mean?**_

_**Naruto: Well, Spirit here has writted other stories about me, some with me paired with you, others with Sasuke-teme. Those scare me. She also does cross overs. You should read some, they are pretty good.**_

_**Me: Good to see we're on the same page for once. Now get on with the disclaimer! I need to get this song out of my head!**_

_**Kyuubi: What song?**_

_**Me: The one that one of my friends made me memorise, just by singing it over and over and over again. And I don't even know what they are singing, its in freaking Spanish!!!**_

_**Kyuubi: Harsh. **_

_**Me: You have no idea.**_

_**Kyuubi: Spirit does not own me or and other characters!**_

_**Naruto and Hinata: But she does own the dragon that will show up later!**_

_**Ja!**_


	2. Confessions and Christmas Eve

The Dragon's Cave 

Ch. 2

_Recap: "N-Naruto-kun? H-how do you k-know Kyuubi?" asked Hinata nervously. (Me: What else is new? Naruto: I thought I told you to shut up!) Naruto looked at her fearfuly, then at Kyuu._

_"You're gona have to tell her sometime, kit. This is the perfect time, a mood killer, but the perfect time. If you need me, you know where to find me!" with a surge of red chakra, Kyuu disappeared, back into Naruto's body._

Naruto sighed, Kyuubi was right, he had to tell her, especialy if Hinata was going to be living with him. But how? How would he tell her his deepest buried secret? Praying that she would not hate him like the other villagers, Naruto started his story.

"Hinata, do you know the story of the nine-tailed fox?"

"I know that it was killed by the Yondaime Hokage, why?"

"Well, he wasn't killed. He was sealed inside a human baby. That baby was me. Please don't hate me, this was something that I could not controll." Naruto was trying to hold back tears, he really didn't want to be treated like that again. But, to his surprise, Hinata lunged at him and gave him a supprisingly tight hug. He half expected he to pull out a kunai and stab him, but she didn't.

"Oh, N-Naruto-kun. I c-could n-never hate you. I-I've liked y-you since o-our acadamy d-days." she sobbed. Naruto hestitently hugged her back, letting tears fall freely now. But they were not tears of saddness, but joy. They stayed like that until both had stopped crying. When Naruto looked at Hinata, she was blushing a deep shade of red.

"So that's why you always blush around me! God, I'm so stupid. How could I have not seen that you liked me."

_**"Probaly because you were all wrapped up in that pink haired one." **_stated Kyuubi blandly from inside Naruto's head. Hinata's blush deepened as she nodded. Naruto pulled her into another hug, and then led her into his room.

"You can sleep in here, until I can come up with something else. I'll sleep on the couch." when Hinata opened her mouth to protest, Naruto shook his head and said. "Don't worry about it, really! It's no problem. It wouldn't be fair if I made you sleep on the couch while I slep on my own bed, so it's fine." Hinata figured that there was no changing his mind, so she followed Naruto outside. "Baa-chan will probaly give me an earful for what i did to your dad, so let me show you a favorite place of mine."

He showed her to the small valley that he had been in before, but this time, they were not alone. Sasuke was there, turning a tree to sawdust. "Hey bastard! What are you doing here?" demanded Naruto. Sasuke stopped abusing the tree, and turned to glare at the couple.

"Training, what does it look like dobe?" he said. Then he noticed Hinata. "Hmph, finaly got a girlfriend? Let's see how long you can keep her."

"Not my girlfriend! I tore up her father, and he kicked her out of the Hyuuga Clan, so she's staying with me. And don't call me dobe." Sasuke had to refrain from rolling his eyes. Only Naruto could do that to someone. "Hey, do you know what's in that cave? I keep hearing growls coming from it, and its not Kyuu."

Sasuke nodded, "That's Old Icy's Cave. Legend says that an ice dragon lives in there, named Icefire. He is solid blue, and spews blue fire. Some say, that his tail is trapped under a rock that is as big as he is, and he is waiting for a pure enough soul to remove it. That is, if you can win him over enough so he can trust you. He sends the one, or ones that he deems worthy enough dreams to get them to go into the cave." when he finished, Naruto looked deep in thought.

"Old Icy's Cave, huh? I had a dream last night of a shadowed figure, with teeth large and powerful enough to bite the Hokage Monument in half, and claws bigger than I am. It had ice blue eyes, and breathed blue fire. Do you think that's him?" Sasuke nodded, his eyes closed.

"Yes, but you should wait for another dream to make sure. You never know, it could have been just a dream." Naruto nodded and the two boys started to spar. Sasuke won, but it was close, very close. Hinata was amazed at what Sasuke had said. In the acadamy, she had head about Old Icy's Cave. It was said that Icefire was powerful enough to tie with or overpower the legendary nine. (the biju) Not at once, but sepratly. It was getting late, and Naruto and Hinata had to finish wrapping their presents tonight, so when Naruto finished his second match with Sasuke, they all headed home. There was a note attached to Naruto's apartment door when they got there. Naruto read it and groaned.

"Man, Tsunade-baa-chan is going to have my head. You go ahead an go inside, I'll be back in about an hour." Hinata nodded and went in the apartment, and started wrapping her presents. Naruto meanwhile, looked around, did a few hand signs and poofed into Tsunade's office. She was sitting at her desk, looking like she just lost a bet that would have made her richer than all the other Kages combined. In other words, she was utterly (hehe, pun) pissed. Naruto chuckled nervously and said, "H-hi baa-chan. You wanted to see me?"

"Yes, I did. Why in Kami's name did you do that to Hinata's father?! Do you have any idea what could have happened to you? And releasing Kyuubi, are you insane?! And... IF YOU CALL ME BAA-CHAN ONE MORE TIME, I WILL THROTLE YOU WITH MY BARE HANDS!!!" she breathed in deeply to calm herself, and watched as Naruto whistled and pulled large wads of cotton out of his ears.

"Wow. But you don't understand, he was insulting her, and me. He was going to tell Hinata-chan my secret, what else could I do. He wouldn't shut up when I told him to, so I made him. And Kyuubi is just a red walking furball with too many tails. He's harmless, under my control that is.'

"And what if he broke your control? What then?"

"Simple." he pulled out a scroll from his shuriken pouch, bit his thumb, and swiped it on a seal written on it. The was a poof of smoke, and what looked like an over sized tazer appeared in his hands. "I buzz him with this, and poof, no more problem." Inside his head, Naruto could hear Kyuu howling and whimpering at the sight of the tazer. Naruto couldn't hold back a sniker, and smirk. Tsunade was nodding in understanding. "Can I go now?"

"What about Hinata? What will she do?"

"Oh, she's staying with me." deadpanned Naruto. All he wanted to do was go home and wrap his gifts then go to bed. Sasuke gave him a hard time when they sparred and he was tired.

"But you apartment isn't even big enough for you! And she can't sleep on that sorry excuse for a couch that you have." Tsunade said. She understood that Naruto was trying to help the Hyuuga girl, but his apartment was unreasonably small.

"I'm the one sleeping on the couch. I didn't think it was fare to make her sleep on it, even if my bed is just as bad, as far as how comfortable it is. And if you think that my apartment is too small, give me a new one." he was starting to get fed up with arguing.

"Fine!" she pulled out some documents, and handed them to Naruto. "Two bed, two bath, kitchen, living room, and storage. Its big enough for the two of you, so that way you won't be cramped. And its fully furnished. It used to be my place, but since I became Hokage, I moved to a bigger home. Just sign at the bottom and move in."

"Ok, thanks. But where is it?"

"The other side of town from your apartment." she got up and pointed to a building a couple streets over. A simple one story house, with a small back yard. "That one. And its close enough to the training fields that even if you wake up later than normal, you won't be late. And if you need to get to me in an emergnecy, no problem." Naruto nodded, signed the papers, and poofed away. He was actually a lot stronger than he let on, and Naruto only removed his mask around people that he trusted dearly.

By the time Naruto returned, Hinata had already wrapped all of her gifts, and put them under the small ragged tree that Naruto had in his living room. Or what she assumed to be his living room. When the fox-boy poofed back into the apartment, she nearly had a heart attack. She noticed that he had a pleaded smile on his face, and figured that he didn't get the scolding that he thought he would get.

"Good news, Hinata-chan! We get a new apartment! Tsunade-baa-chan nearly tore my head off for what i did to your father, and almost tried to kill me when i said that you were living with me now, so she gave me her old home. Two bed, two bath, a kitchen, and a living room. Plus storage for anything that can't fit in the main house. I'll get Kyuu to move our things in there while we head over."

_**"What am I, your bus boy... er fox?! Why do I have to do all the work?"**_

_'Because I cam zap you with the tazer, now get to it!'_

_**"Yeah, yeah."**_with a surge of chakra, Kyuubi appered next to Naruto and went to get there things. Naruto left with Hinata, stopped by the front desk to sign out, the lady at the desk muttering something about not having to have a demon in her building anymore, and headed across town. When they heard a screech coming from the building, Naruto guessed that Kyuu had used the stairs. A green blur shot out of nowhere, and Naruto quickly did several hand signs and exclaimed:

**"Tsuchikabe! (mud wall)" **a wall of dirt about six feet high shot up and there was a loud BANG!!! and the green blur was stopped in its tracks. Guess who. Can't? It was Lee. Instead of knocking Naruto over, and engaging him in a sparing contest, he got his face planted in the wall of mud. "Oops, sorry Lee. Didn't expect you to try and kill me!" said Naruto, not sounding sorry at all. With a muffled grunt, Lee pryed his face from the wall and stumbled backwards. Staightening up, he did a nice guy pose and said with a bit too much enthusiasm:

"That's all right, my youthful friend! I was just trying to engage you in a youthful spar!! And miss Hinata! What are you doing with Naruto-kun!? Not that there's anything unyouthful with that!" (Me:rocking back and forth in a corner repeating 'too much youth.' **\/\/**)

"W-we are going to our new h-home. N-Naruto-kun fought my father, and h-he kicked me out o-of the Hyuuga Clan. S-So I'm living w-with Naruto-kun." To be completely frank, Lee scared her.

"Oh! Well my youthful friends! I must be going. I am going to run two hundred youthful laps around the vilage wall backards before I go to bed to rest up for the youthful day of Christmas!"

"That's nice Lee. Bye!" said Naruto, wanting Lee to leave as soon as possible. He was a friend, and nice. Sometimes too nice. He was loyal, but a bit scary. When Lee was gone, Naruto once again pulled cotton wads out of his ears and sighed.

"I-I should have thought of t-that." said Hinata, rubbing her temples, trying to get rid of a coming headache.

"Well, after a while, you start to be able to tune him out, but this helps. It doesn't get rid of Lee's voice completely, but it makes it more bareable. The only thing I don't understand is how TenTen and Neji can stand him _and_ Gia-sensei. And there's just so much _green._ It burns my eyes there's so much." Hinata sighed and nodded in consent. By the time Naruto and Hinata got to there new house, it had started to snow. Walking inside, they were supprised at how, non alchoholish it smelled, considering Tsunade's _little _drinking problem. Not only that, but it was very beautiful. The furniture looked expensive, so Hinata had to make sure to keep Naruto in his place, so he didn't break anything. There was a knock at the door, and Naruto opened it to reveal Sakura, holding a very disgruntled looking Kyuubi by the scruff of the neck. He was glaring at anything and anyone that dared to laugh at him. "Can I help you?"

"Yes, you can. Can you keep this perverted fox of yours inside, and away from me?! He was looking in my bedroom window!" Naruto took Kyuubi from her, and tossed him uncerimonisly on the floor. "And I'm hosting a Christmas party at my place tomrow at nine at night. Can you come?"

"Sure, I'll be there! Thanks for bringing him home." she nodded and stepped back so Naruto could close the door. On the other side, she heard him yelling at Kyuubi. "WHAT THE HELL DID I TELL YOU ABOUT WANDERING AROUND AND DOING THINGS LIKE THAT?!!! HUH?!!!"

"I WAS TRYING TO TELL HER THAT YOU NO LONGER LIVED IN YOUR OLD APARTMENT!!! IT'S NOT MY FAULY THAT SHE OVER REACTED!!"

"IT'S ALL YOU FAULT!!! SHE COULD HAVE BEEN CHANGING HER CLOTHES AND YOU COULD HAVE WALKED IN ON HER!!! YOU SHOULD HAVE LEFT TELLING HER ABOUT THE CHANGE IN LOCATION TO ME!!! HELL, YOU ARE SO LUCKY THAT SAKURA KNOWS WHO AND WHAT YOU ARE, OR SHE WOULD HAVE KILLED YOU!!!"

Sakura whistled at the volume of there voices, sure that Gaara could hear them all the way in Sunagakure. She knew Naruto was loud, but nothing like that. Unpluging her ears, she walked away, and back to her home.

Back inside, Hinata was giggling at the glaring contest that the two kitsunes were having. (you know, how some people call Naruto a kitsune in there fics.) The air was literaly crackling with tension. Kyuu finaly broke contact, and Naruto started to gloat over his first victory agaist the nine-tails in a long time. Kyuubi rolled his eyes and went back inside Naruto, while Naruto himself and Hinata went to bed.

_**Me: Well, there's chapter two. In the next one: Christmas Day, and Old Icy's Cave.**_

_**Kyuu: Why are you so cruel to me?! I thought that you loved me!**_

_**Me: I do, but it's called comedy. Or my sad attempt at it anyway.**_

_**Naruto: I can't belive that I'm saying this, but I think you're getting better at this.**_

_**Kyuu and Sasuke: Do you ever think at all?**_

_**Naruto: YES I DO!!! So shut up!**_

_**Me: He's right. Heck, Naruto is smarter than Sasuke, he just doesn't show it. Get on with the disclaimer before I bring out the tazers and fan girls!**_

_**Naruto, Sasuke, and Kyuu: Spirit does not own us or any other Naruto character. But she does own the dragon.**_

_**Sasuke: And if you bring out the fan girls, I swear to God, I'll...**_

_**Me: What? Glare me to death? That seems all that you're good at.**_

_**Naruto and Kyuu: She's right you know.**_

_**Sasuke: Shut Up**_

_**Ja! **_


	3. Icefire and the Christmas Party

The Dragon's Cave 

Ch 3

_Reacap:Sakura whistled at the volume of there voices, sure that Gaara could hear them all the way in Sunagakure. She knew Naruto was loud, but nothing like that. Unpluging her ears, she walked away, and back to her home._

_Back inside, Hinata was giggling at the glaring contest that the two kitsunes were having. (you know, how some people call Naruto a kitsune in there fics.) The air was literaly crackling with tension. Kyuu finaly broke contact, and Naruto started to gloat over his first victory agaist the nine-tails in a long time. Kyuubi rolled his eyes and went back inside Naruto, while Naruto himself and Hinata went to bed._

Naruto woke the next morning to the unfamiliar bed that was his own, and the smell of cooking bacon. He didn't remember having anyone over, and certanly didn't remember wanting bacon. But the smell was just so damn good! Throwing the quilt that he was previously laying under, Naruto sprinted into the kitchen. Reality hit him like a herd of elephants. The previous day came flooding back to him, and he blushed when he relised that he was standing infront of Hinata, clad only in dark blue boxers. Thankfuly, Hinata didn't seem to notice his entrance, so he backed out of the kitchen and back into his room. Coming out five minuetes later in his normal attire, he took a seat.

"Mmm, smells great Hinata-chan. You sure are a good cook." Hinata blushed and giggled, happy that Naruto thought so. There was a knock at the door, and Naruto got up to open it. He jumped about ten feet in the air and slamed the door shut, leaning against it. "Damn. They already found out about my location change?" There was a crash and a rock came flying through the window with a note attached to it. It read:

**Get out of our town demon! You are no longer welcome here. This Christmas, if you don't leave, you will die.**

_'What a way to spend Christmas.' _thought Naruto with a sweatdrop forming on the back of his head. He walked to the window and returned the rock, but this time it was flaming with a minor Katon jutsu. He heard a yelp from the croud that was forming outside.

"That's it! You die now demon!" yelled the supposed leader of the group. Naruto couldn't kill them, or hurt them, that would only reinforce their hatred. Hinata rushed out of the kitchen, and looked in shock at the broken window and the croud out side, screaming for Naruto's blood. "Look! The monster has the Hyuuga heir as a captive!" exclaimed another mob goer. Hinata opened the door, and glared at them with her Byakugan activated.

"If you harm Naruto-kun, you will answer to me. Come no further." she said with all the athority of a leader. Naruto blinked a couple times from behind her, supprised at her sudden confidence. But the mob was not convenced, if anything, they were madder.

"The demon has brainwashed the innocent girl! Let's kill him." the man that spoke bravely, or stupidly, pushed forward, only to be heaved in the chest with a gentle fist attack. He stumbled back and coughed up blood.

"I'll repeat this one more time." Hinata said in a sinister voice. "Come no further. I will not hesitate to kill you if you harm Naruto-kun. I am here on my own free will." Then, calming down a little she said, "Now, as your Christmas gift to me, fix the window and appologise to Naruto-kun." the mob complied, and quickly fixed the window, and, reluctantly if nothing else, appologised to Naruto. The two genin walked back inside, and the group left.

"Wow Hinata-chan! I never knew that you could be so athorative."

"It comes naturaly after living in a place that I had all my life. But I'm glad that I'm here now, with you. Angry mob or not." she noticed that she wasn't stuttering around Naruto anymore and gave a mental cheer at her achivement.

"Oh. Sorry about that. It happens every holiday. It seems that they don't loose their hatered twoards me at any time. And each year it seems to be worse. What a way to wake up in the morning, and on Christmas no less." Hinata noted that Naruto's emotional mask had almost completely disappeared, and he was opening up to her more. They ate their, now cold, bacon and eggs, and went for a walk. Eventualy, the two ended up at the clearing of Old Icy's Cave. The lake had frozen over, and there was a frest blanket of snow on the ground. It started to snow again.

Naruto looked at Hinata out of the corner of his eye, and nearly had a nosebleed. The dim mornig light was alluminating her porcelin face, and the snow was just adding to the effect. The snow steadily got harder, and a stiff wind picked up.

_**"Kit, find cover, now. There's a blizzard coming." **_said Kyuubi from inside his head. There was no time to go back to the house, the wind was getting harder by the minute, and the snow was falling thicker. Taking Hinata's small soft hand in his own rough larger one, Naruto led her in the direction of the nearest shelter—Old Icy's Cave. Hinata blushed when Naruto took her hand, supprised at how rough they were from hours and hours of training.

When they reached the cave, they were supprised at how warm it was, and how deep it went.The sides were covered by a shining crystal, and there were crystal pools of fresh water on the ground. The cave went at least 2,000 feet back before it forked off in to the mountain. Down one path was a large opening with a larger pool of water in it and stalactites and stalagmites all around. Down the other was a larger clearing with a large boulder in the middle, at least ten times the size of a mammoth. There was no sound except for the heavy breathing of the two genin and the howling wind from outside.

"Where's the dragon?" whispered Naruto. As if his words had aroused it, a pillar of blue flame rushed down the path that had the boulder in it. A thundering roar echoed through out the cave and some of the stalactites fell from the celing (did i get that right?).

**"Who are you?" **a voice boomed. **"Why are you in my cave?"**

Naruto gulped and answered in a hesitant voice. "Naruto Uzumaki and Hinata Hyuuga. There is a blizzard outside, and this was the closest shelter there was."

**"Well than Uzumaki, show yourselves!" **the two genin walked slowly down the coridor and stopped when they reached the boulder. A huge blue head poked around it, and glared at them with ice blue eyes. (think Sappira only ten times bigger) **"You're just a couple of brats. And you, blondy. Do you know Minato Namikaze, the bastard who sealed this cursed rock on my tail? You look just like him."**

"No, I don't. I've never even heard of him." the dragon looked at Naruto carefully, then extended his neck so he was eye to eye with the blond.

**"Hm... spiky blond hair, clear blue eyes, and I'm sure that if I lifted up your shirt, I would find a seal on your stomach. Am I right?" **

Naruto blinked and nodded. The ice dragon snorted and looked at Hinata. **"Well, would you look at this. The little Hyuuga heir. Hmph, you don't look like much, but then again, niether did this brat's old man, and look what he did to me. Minato was a stubborn bastard, and he never gave up. Hell, he even went on to become Hokage."**

"Wait, Hokage? My dad was a Hokage?" Icefire nodded his massive head.

**"Yes, the Yondaime Hokage to be exact. The most powerful ninja in the village. Its a shame he died. I would have liked to roast him for what he did to me." **the fierce look of hatred returned to the giant dragon's expression and he opened his mouth. A faint glow was presant in the back of his throught and Naruto pulled Hinata to the ground as another pillar of blue flame shot over their heads. They quickly made their way out of the dragon's clearing inside the cave. Icefire let out an earth shattering roar that made Hinata stumble as the ground shook. Naruto quickly pulled her up and they continued running. **"Kujietto!! (arc jet)" **a pale stream of a water like subbstance came flying down the corridor and nearly got the fleeing genin. They went quickly down the second path and hid. Even though the dragon couldn't get them, they were still scared.

"Damn that was close. Too close, and how will we get out of here. With that blizzard, it would just be stupid to go out there. And if we leave this part of the cave, we'll be torched. The others will be worried when we don't show up for the party." said Naruto from his possition on the ground. He was holding a scared and sobbing Hinata in his lap, hugging her tightly.

In the other part of the cave, Icefire was looking after the two genin with a sorrowful look on his scaly face. _'I lost it again. If I continue like this, I'll never get out of here.' _he thought. Letting out a sigh/growl, he lowered his head and stared at the wall of his cave._ 'If those two can't get this rock off of me, I don't know what I'll do.' _ raising his head, the ice dragon let out a defeated roar, hoping to let the to humans that he was sorry, but he held that hope lightly.

In the other clearing the two genin listened to Icefire's roar, and felt a little sorry for the massive dragon, but were too scared to make any move to help him. _'He sounds so upset. Why is he even sealed in here?' _thought Naruto

_**'From what I heard, he tried to destroy part of the village, but your old man lured him in here and sealed that rock on his tail. He didn't do it on his own free will. Icefire was possesed by a strong genjutsu that made him go nuts, kind of what happened to me.' **_said Kyuubi from inside Naruto

_'How long ago was it?'_

_**'Exactly fourteen years ago, one year before I was sealed away.'**_

_'That makes sense, I guess.' _

"Naruto-kun, how are we going to get out of here?" whimpered Hinata.

"I don't know, but we will, don't worry." he reasured her gently. They heard something echoing down the corridors of the cave. It sounded like singing. But it was in a language that niether of them could understand, but in a way, it was comforting them, and giving them new hope. Naruto helped Hinata to her feet, and they followed the voice back to the dragon's part of the cave. His head was raised, and he was looking to the roof of the cave, his mouth moving in a way that signaled that Icefire was infact the one singing.

**"Yone hiwme ohane aheko wohnesa. Tojem hoesaml eoan ofsahl awohsediew eow deown. Tonsaway onewan ehon, andow ewneowm. Ingow onhwm lahow."(1) **is what he was singing.

"What does that mean?" asked Hinata quietly. Icefire's head snapped to the two ninja, but instead of hatred in his eyes, there was compation.

**"It translates into: Live every day to the fullest that you can. The spirits of your past will be there to guide you on your long, lonely path. Never give up hope, for you will always find a way to make it through. Have faith my son of the sky. Its a song that my mother sang to me when I was a hatchling, it always gave me faith."**

"What language was it in? I've never heard it before." said Naruto.

**"Its in the ancient tounge of dragon-speak. To the untrained ear, it would sound like a bunch of incoharent jibberish. But to the few left that can understand or speak it, it is a beautiful, and calming song."**

"Why are you being so kind to us now, after you tried to torch us fourty-five minuetes ago."

**"To be honest, I don't know. I just feel that I need to do something to make up for the way I acted earlier." **Icefire replied, with a sheepish look on his face. **"Now can you two see if you can get this rock off of me? I lost feeling in my tail a long time ago, but I need to make sure that I can still use it."**

"Say we do, what will you do to us?"

**"You'll just have to find that out for yourselves, now won't you."**

Naruto narrowed his eyes, and Hinata gulped, but they tried to get the giant boulder off of the dragon's tail. When they failed more than once, Naruto explored the bolder, and found a seal on the very top of it with a note attached to it. It read:

To whoever removes this seal,

Understand that this is a very dangerous dreagon, and should not be trusted, unless he proves to you that he can infact be trusted. If he fails to proove this to you, _do not_ remove the seal, for it will be the end of the Village Hidden in the Leaves.

Minato Namikaze, Yondaime Hokage of the Village Hidden in the Leaves.

Icefire had prooved that he could be trusted, and that he would not destroy the village. So, Naruto, with Hinata's help, ripped off the seal. There was a flash of light, and the boulder disappeared. Icefire was standing at his full hieght, waving his tail around, trying to get the feeling back in it. To test it out, he slammed it against the wall, succesfuly demoloshing it. With a satisfied nod, he turned to Naruto and Hinata, and bowed his head.

**"I thank you for removing that tedious rock from my tail, and I owe my freedom to you. Do what you like with me." **The two genin were stunned, not sure what to do.

"Well, we have a Christmas party that we have to make in..." Naruto checked his wrist watch (lets say he has one) "HOLY SHIT TEN MINUETS!!! And its still a blizzard out side. Can you get us to our place, than to the location of the party? We have to pick up the presents for our friends, and probaly our friends themselves." Icefire nodded, and bent down so they could get on his back. The secon Naruto touched him, he jerked back as though he had been burned, as there was a bright flash of light. When he looked at his hand, he gasped. There was a dragon shaped scar on his palm, under his middle finger.

**"Lets go dragon rider."**

"Say what?"

**"You are my rider now. Its too complicated to explain at this moment, so I'll talk and fly. Get on."**

_**A\N:**__**Yes this is a minor Eragon Xover. Get over it.**_

As they flew, Icefire explained the basics of being a dragon rider, and what it meant. To their supprise, they were not even cold as they flew through the blizzard. And they were going at such a speed that no snow hit them. Stopping briefly at their house, Naruto and Hinata grabbed their presents and ran back out. Naruto directed Icefire to all of his friends homes, to pick them up. They were all more than hesitent to climb on the massive dragon, but complied and got on. They arrived at Sakura's house at the exact time that the party was supposed to start, and had to bite back a scream when she caught sight of Icefire.

_'Can you change your size?' _Naruto asked mentaly.

_**'You better belive it!' **_Icefire replied. There was a 'poof,' and a cat sized ice dragon landed on Naruto's shoulder. The Christmas party cominced, much to Sakura's mother's supprise. Every time she tried to ask how they got there, she was interupted, so she gave up and went to her bedroom to read a book.

Naruto was having a good time, when he felt a tap on the back. Icefire pointed with his arrow shapped tail to Hinata, who was standing in a corner, looking very lost and alone. She never celebrated Christmas like this back when she lived in the Hyuuga complex, her father thought it was a waste of time. Training time. Grinning, Naruto invited Hinata to a dance, and Icefire went over to the radio.

_**'Time to change this noise to something more sutible.' **_sending his dragon chakra into the radio, he searched for the right song, and found it. The change in music made some heads turn to the ice dragon in curiosity. He just continued doing his thing. _**'Ah, here we go.' **_

The song 'Because You Loved Me' by Celine Dion started up. Naruto thanked Icefire mentaly and danced with Hinata to the music. His steps were precice, and smooth, matching Hinata's perfectly. After the song ended, the two genin shared a short kiss, causing them both to blush as the others 'awwed' and 'ooohed.'

They gathered around the Christmas tree and exchanged gifts. Naruto got a box of instant ramen from Shikamaru, a necklace that had a charm around it from Sasuke, fifty free ramen tickets from Ino, a How to Cook book from Choji, a set of whieght and kuni from Lee, three giant shuiken from Tenten, a fan with a summoning kanji on it from Temari, a set of scrolls from Gaara, a puppetier's handbook from Kankuro, a set of arm and leg braces from Neji, a medical handbook from Sakura, some dog whistles from Kiba, and a How to Control Bugs book from Shino. But the most important gift that he got was from Hinata, it was a nine-tailed fox plush with blue eyes. By the time he was done opening them, Naruto was trying to hold back tears. This was the first time that he had gotten presents from every one of his friends, and it was too much for the Kyuubi holder. He thanked everyone gratefuly

Hinata meanwhile got a Shogi set from Shikamaru, a bracelet with the Uzumaki symbol from Sasuke, who gave her a wink, smirk and glanced at Naruto. She also got a gift card for the Yamananka (sp?) flower shop from Ino, a free BBQ dinner certificate from Choji, some new wepons and whieghts from Lee and Tenten, a scroll with instructions on using wind chakra from Temari, a three night stay at a resort in Sunagakure for two from Gaara, and a small marionete puppet from Kankuro. Along with a stationary set from Neji, a medical cream and ointment making set from Sakura, a dog plushie from Kiba, and a catapillar plush from Shino. Her most important gift was from Naruto, it was an orange jacket like his own, but with pale blue instead of dark blue at the top, and on the back was a crossover between the Uzumaki symbol and the Hyuuga crest with what looked like Kyuubi curled around it. She gave everyone a hug, but gave Naruto a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

When the party was over, the blizzard had passed, and Naruto had Icefire give everyone a ride home._ 'Hey Icefire, instead of bringing us home bring us back to the cave. I have something that I need to show Hinata-chan, and I don't want anyone snooping.'_

_**'Sure thing.' **_the dragon brought the two back to the cave, and waited outside for them.

Naruto meanwhile lead Hinata to the place where Icefire had smashed the wall. He had noticed that it lead to somewhere and had gotten a good look at it before they had left. Inside was a clearing that was free of snow, and had a lake in the center of it that gave off a beautiful glow. The stones around them glowed as well, making the place seem magical. It was the perfect romantic setting.

_**A\N: Not only do I hate writing fluff, but I stink at writing fluff. So I'm going to skip that part, sorry if you were expecting some huge romantic scene. X3!**_

When they exited the cave, Hinata had a dazed look on her face, giving anyone who saw her a good idea of what happened. (and not that you perverts, they're too young for _**that**_.) They quickly mounted Icefire, who was now the size of a clidesdale horse, and they flew home.

_**(1) Pronounciation for what Icefire was singing:**_

_**You-ne hi-wame oh-hane ah-eeko won-nessa. Toge-eem how-sam-el eo-an off-sa-hall aw-oh-sed-ei-we eo-wa de-own. Ton-sea-wea-ya one-woan eon, an-do-wa ew-neo-way-me. In-go-we on-ha-way-meh law-hoe-wa.**_

_**Wow, I think that was my longest chapter in this story yet.**_

_**Naruto: So was that really a language?**_

_**Me: No, just some letters that I threw together and gave a translatoin to**_

_**Naruto: oh. So what did I do to Hinata-chan at the end.**_

_**Me: Nothing inapropriet for your age. I think that you sang to her or something, then kissed her. I don't know, i never really decided on that.**_

_**Naruto: Ok. Spirit does not own me or any other Naruto characters**_

_**Icefire: But she does own me and this plot**_

_**Ja! **_


	4. The Day After Christmas and a New Figure

The Dragon's Cave and Other Adventures Ch. 4 _Recap:When they exited the cave, Hinata had a dazed look on her face, giving anyone who saw her a good idea of what happened. (and not that you perverts, they're too young for __**that**__.) They quickly mounted Icefire, who was now the size of a clidesdale horse, and they flew home._

Now, for those of you that think that things were normal the next morning, you must be severly demented in the head, because things were the farthest thing from normal. Naruto woke to something warm, scaly, and spined pressing against his back, and nearly had a heart attack when he shifted onto his back, and came face to wing with Icefire. Letting out a screech, he rolled and promptly fell onto his butt on the ground. Icefire lifted his head sleepily, and craned his neck to look at the poor boy.

**"Make sure you don't kill yourself. I'm too young to die." **he slurred sleepily.

"What's that supposed to mean you walking handbag?!"

**"Well, if you die, then so do I. But if I die, then you live on, but you will find that life isn't worth living without your dragon. At least, that's what some of my friends had told me. And I'm going to ignore the walking handbag thing, for your sake."**

"Oh." Icefire leaped onto the ground and went into the kitchen, leaving Naruto to get dressed. Grumbling and swearing, the Kyuubi vessil picked himself up off the ground to pull on some simple faded gray sweat pants, and a red shirt with a yellow trim, that was infact, body tight. He went into the kitchen to find Icefire alone sitting in a chair. _'Hinata-chan must still be asleep.' _

Settling down across from the dragon, Naruto thought about the previous day, and all the gifts he had gotten from all of his friends and comrads. He especialy loved the fox plushie that Hinata gave him. The overall design and look of it, reminded him of Kyuu, but the blue eyes and the grin that was on it reminded him of himself. It must have been a gift for him and Kyuubi. Nodding at that thought, Naruto went back to thinking about when they were in Icefire's cave. What intregued him the most was when the dragon was singing. It was a strange language, that he slightly recognised, but couldn't put his finger on it.

A soft yawn and the shuffling of feet alerted them to Hinata's presence. When Naruto turned his head... let's just say that his blood was fighting on what direction to go. Hinata was clad only in a skimpy sleeping _bra, _and underwear. She stopped when she saw Naruto, whom might I add had a very red face, and sported her own blush. Letting out a squeak, she spun around and ran back into her room. The two in the kitchen heard a resounding BANG!!!! signaling that she had slammed the door.

Icefire sighed and shook his head, while Naruto swallowed and turned back around. Pouncing off of his chair, the dragon trotted in the direction of Hinata's bedroom, growing to the size of a large pony as he went. Stopping infront of her door, he tapped lightly on it with a claw.

"W-w-who is i-i-it?"

**"Icefire. You decent?"**

"Yes. Come in." the dragon turned the knob in his massive foot—he has five fingers like we do on our hands on his front, and four on his back—and entered the room. Hinata was still very red, but had regular clothes on.

**"Are you Ok?" **he asked, not that he needed to, but felt compelled to ask anyway.

"No! Naruto-kun must hate me for showing myself like that. Its just that, I'm used to being able to walk around with practicly nothing on. At least, that's what I could do at the Hyuuga complex."

**"Actualy, from what I read in the gaki's (brat's) head, his blood was figting in which way to go. Trust me, he likes you more than you think. And don't you ever think that he would hate you! I don't think that anyone besides those that you kill on missions, and your teme father could ever hate you. **_**I **_**didn't hate you when I first met you in the cave, even though I almost set your hair and much more on fire." **

"D-do you r-really think so?" she asked uncertanly

**"I know so. Now come on. We're going to be late for what smells like... french toast. Naruto must be putting that book that that fat kid gave him to good use." **Hinata nodded and followed the ice dragon back into the living room.

"Hey, Icy? Can you help me get this stove running. It won't turn on, and it's electric."

**"Sure. Pull it out and I'll have a look inside. I'm pretty skilled when it comes to repairing things." **Naruto complied and pulled out the stove. Icefire opened up the back, and was blasted back by a burst of fire. Coughing up a ring of black smoke, he brushed off the soot that had collected on his head and neck, and had a look inside the stove. **"Ah, here we go." **With a sharp tug, he wrenched out a piece of smoking metal. **"Hm." **taking in a large breath of air, he breathed out and spewed a controled stream of fire. As the metal heated up, he pulled it, to straighen out the kinks that had formed in it. Then, he breathed in again, but this time when he breathed out, the temperature in the room dropped by a few degrees as the dragon cooled the metal pipe. Placing it back into place, he welded it into place and plugged the stove back in, and put the back back on.

When Icefire was out from behind the stove, Naruto pushed it back into place. He turned the knob, and the stove turned on. It was a simple two burner, electric stove, not that that's important, but... hehe. Naruto went back to cooking, and the other two settled down at the table. Well, Hinata did, there were only two chairs, and one was Naruto's. So Icefire grew to where he could eat as though he were sitting in a chair.

Not ten minuetes later, they were eating contently. To be completely honest, Naruto's cooking was quite amazing, and he was someone who eats only ramen and red bean soup. After they were finished, Icefire offered to give them a ride to Sasuke's so that Naruto could get rid of some exess energy. When they reached the Uchiha complex, all three paled at the mob of fangirls outside his house. Icefire hovered at a safe distance above Sasuke's rabid fanclub, and chuckled when his sensitve ears picked up their screaming. He transmited them to Naruto who laughed so hard that he nearly fell off of the dragon's back.

They noticed Sasuke's pale face looking out a closed window about two stories above the fangirls. Naruto had Icefire fly down and stay by the window where Sasuke's paler-than-normal-and-that's-pretty-damn-pale face was looking at them with a pleading look. Meanwhile, the fangirls were screaming at the sight of a dragon the size of a mammoth. But when they saw Sasuke climb onto his back, they roared and pulled out random wepons, seemingly out of nowhere. Even Icy paled so bad that his scales were practicly white.

Quickly diving out of the way of thrown projectiles, he shot out of their range and disappeared out of sight. When they landed, the boys—Icy among them—let out a sigh, while Hinata giggled. Then the two... eh scratch that, three—Kyuubi—who knew what the fangirls where saying, burst out laughing. Sasuke just glared.

**"Oh don't even try the death glare on me! Haha, I'm more practiced at it. And I can assure you, so is Naruto. Hahahah!!" **said the dragon. Sasuke just huffed and turned away.

"So... why were you guys by my house?"

"HEY!!! Us guys, just saved your ungrateful, sorry ass!! Show some respect. I wanted to train teme, but if you want to go back... _**alone**_... to your rabid-fangirl-surrounded house, be my guest. I won't hold you back."

"Ah... that's ok. We can train."

"Good. There's a few new justu that I want to try." They shifted into their favorite taijutsu stances, Naruto's with one leg forward, leaning forward, with his hands infront of his face. Sasuke's with one leg slightly infront of the other standing up straighe, his hands tensed at his sides. (i think that's right.) Hinata gave the signal to start, and they sprung at each other, exchanging punches and kicks. Naruto suddenly leaped back, and performed a sereies of unfamiliar hand seals. **"Katon: Katon Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!(fire release: fire shadow clone jutsu.)" **a group of six _**flaming **_shadow clones appeared infront of Sasuke and tried to land a punch. One got Sasuke on the leg, who hissed and punched the clone, earning a nice burn mark on both his hand and leg. **"Kuchiyose no Jutsu (summoning jutsu)!" **there was a puff of smoke and beside Naruto stood Kyuubi, in all of his glory, about the size of Akamaru in the Shippuuden series.

At the same time, they yelled: **"Souma no Kou (double demon attack)!" **and there was another poof of smoke, and Naruto was now a perfect copy of Kyuu. They sprang forward and slamed into Sasuke at a blinding pace. **BAM "Two strikes!" BAM "Four strikes!" BAM "Six strikes!" BAM "EIGHT STRIKES!!!" **they lept away from the stagering Uchiha, but didn't give him time to recover. Kyuubi yelled: **"Kurohigi Kiki Ippatsu! (Black secret teqnique machine one shot)!" **while Naruto yelled: **"Fuuton: Daitoppa (wind release: great breakthrough)!" **there was another puff of smoke, but this time, a supercharged blast of wind added to the affect. When the smoke cleared, Sasuke was against a tree, and there was a giant machine... thing... rested in front of Kyuubi. He pulled a trigger, and a large explosion resounded throughout the area, and a bullet the size of Sasuke's head and ego put together shot out of the machine and exploded again and a net shot out of it and attached itself to the tree, shocking Sasuke through and through.

Sasuke groaned as he slid to the ground. Naruto was panting, and even Kyuubi looked a little winded. The machine disappeared and so did Kyuubi. "Hmph. He's been wanting some fresh air for a while, but when I let him out, he only stays for one fight." panted Naruto. He staggered over to Icefire and Hinata, leaving Sasuke to the ever drawing closer fangirls that could just be heard on the distance. Sasuke gulped and staggered to his feet, and hid behind the trio.

When the fangirls arrived, they all pointed in the direction of the Hokage Monument. The rabid fans sped off in said direction, and Sasuke sighed a breezy sigh. They stayed in the clearing for a while, but it started to snow. Icefire gave Sasuke a ride home while Naruto and Hinata walked back to their home, which was near by.

Luckily when the Uchiha and dragon reached said Uchiha's house, there were no fangirls in sight. Aformentioned Uchiha thanked Icefire and went inside. Icefire went home, but took his time to give Naruto and Hinata some alone time; meaning he walked.

----------------------------------Meanwhile, somewhere on the other side of the Fire Country--------------------------------

"So, the dragon has been released?" said a shadowed figure.

"Yes sire." replied another man

"Did the person who released him become his rider?"

"Yes, but he is a mere boy, a... mere genin."

"What he is does not matter. Did you get his name?"

"Yes, sire. His name is Naruto Uzumaki, and there is a girl with him who's name is Hinata Hyuuga. She was recently kicked out of the Hyuuga Clan." the stranger said.

"Very good. Keep an eye on both of them. I want to know of any changes in their strength and movements."

"Yes sire." the other man backed into the shadows and the other one stepped forward. He has blonde hair and blue eyes.

"My son, you have gotten very strong. I will meet you soon, very soon." said Minato Namikaze.

_**Ohhh, creepy. At least a plot is starting to develop.**_

_**Naruto: Are you making him evil?**_

_**Me: No, I just wanted to add a bit of suspense.**_

_**Naruto: Oh. Spirit does not own me or any other Naruto characters. But she does own the plot and Icy.**_

_**Ja!**_


	5. Tradgity Strikes

The Dragon's Cave and Other Adventures 

Ch 5

Warning: this one is a little sad, but don't stop reading, it will get happy again.

_Recap: __"So, the dragon has been released?" said a shadowed figure._

_"Yes sire." replied another man_

_"Did the person who released him become his rider?"_

_"Yes, but he is a mere boy, a... mere genin."_

_"What he is does not matter. Did you get his name?"_

_"Yes, sire. His name is Naruto Uzumaki, and there is a girl with him who's name is Hinata Hyuuga. She was recently kicked out of the Hyuuga Clan." the stranger said._

_"Very good. Keep an eye on both of them. I want to know of any changes in their strength and movements."_

_"Yes sire." the other man backed into the shadows and the other one stepped forward. He has blonde hair and blue eyes. _

_"My son, you have gotten very strong. I will meet you soon, very soon." said Minato Namikaze._

Now, where were we...

"YOU'RE LATE!!!" oh, here we go! Kakashi just now decided to appear. His team had been waiting for two hours, and they were freezing! Well, the genin were, Icefire seemed unaffected by the cold; probaly a plus to being born in the arctic. He was perched on Naruto's shoulder, about the size of a house cat, his warm underbelly helping Naruto a little, empisis on a little.

"Maa, maa. Sorry everyone, I was..."

**"Cut the shit you. We don't need your excuses."** said Icefire, voicing the whole team. Kakashi just stood there, then mentaly shook his head, and started to explain the mission. Supposedly, they were just escorting a family of three to their home town to visit their reletives for New Years. There was a woman, her husband, and their three year old daughter.

They set off to the Hokage's tower to pick up their cliants. Icefire got off of Naruto's shoulder, and grew to the size of a doberman. When they entered the tower, Naruto noticed that it was about as cold in there as it was outside. _'Heater must be broken again.' _he thought.

Reaching Tsunade's office, they were briefed in more detail. The road that they had to take was plauged by bandits, and was along a deep gorge. The opposite side rose steeply for about fifty feet; it was known as the Assasin's Trail, for there had been a lot of murders on that road. Five minuetes later, the family arrived, and introduced themselves. The man's name was G'reth (got it from the book _Icefire. _Pronounced guh-reth), his wife's name was Yukari, their daughter's name was Lanna. Setting out, they reached the Assasin's Trail in no time.

Naruto was more than hesitant to go along the gorge, but Icefire used his snout to push him along. The gorge was at least fifteen miles long, one of the longest ones in the area, and the dry bottom was about one-hundred feet below, a fall would kill you. The clattering of rocks over the edge put them all on guard. Icefire and Sasuke stayed to the side of the family, Icy taking the side closest to the gorge, so he could catch anyone who fell. Kakashi, Naruto, and Sakura stayed infront and behind the three cliants. They kept moving, but Icefire stedily got bigger, but not big enough to make them move over, but it made them all tense. If he was nervous, than they damn well should be too.

All of a sudden, a kunai sped over the side, and almost got Sakura in the head, but she ducked just in time. (DAMN!!!) Five men leaped over the side of the top part of the trail, and three other hopped out of crevices in the side of it. Four were emediatly taken out, but one shot away from the throng to try and take off Yukari's head. Icefire—now the size of a horse—appeared infront of him and knocked him aside, and over the cliff. Two others apeared on each side of Yukari, and they knocked her over the cliff, Lanna with her.

**"No!" **Icefire dove after them, and caught them. There was no time to unfold his wings, by the time they caught air, they would have hit the ground. So he rolled in the air to where he was facing the sky, and clutched the two to his chest, bracing for impact.

"Icefire!" screamed Naruto from the top of the cliff. He watched in horror as the dragon hit the bottom of the dry gorge, with an audible thud able to be heard from one-hundred feet above. The three genin and single jonin had finished off the others in time to see the dragon dive over the cliff side, after Yukari and Lanna. Team 7 started to leap down the side of the cliff, G'reth in tow, to see if by any small mirical they had survived the fall.

When they reached the bottom, Yukari was bending over the still blue form with Lanna holding her dress. There were tears streaking the sides of her face, and her eyes were down cast.

"B-beacause of me." she whispered. "He w-was protecting me." G'reth tried to comfort her, but to no avail. Naruto meanwhile had walked up to the dragon's head and was staring at his face for any signs of life, but found none. He broke down in uncontrolable tears, sobbing softly. Sasuke and Sakura tried to comfort him, but they too were crying, so they cried together. Kakashi appeared at their sides.

"Nothing to do here but bury him, and honor his bavery." he said solomly. Naruto sniffled, and managed to stop crying. They got some rocks, and started to cover his body. When they were done, the group made their way back to the top of the cliff.

'_**Why do you leave me?' **_Naruto heard Icefire whisper from inside his head. His head whipped back to the dragon's grave, but there where no signs of life, or movement.

"Naruto?" Sakura asked gently. "Are you ok?" he slowly turned his head back to the others, and nodded feebly.

_**'Why?' **_he heard the whisper again. This time however, he continued to walk away._ **'Why?' **_

By nightfall, they had reached the end of the gorge, and they set up camp. _'We found him under a rock, and we buried him under a rock. I'm sorry Icefire, I really am.' _thought Naruto.

_**"Kit, get some rest. We can't have you colapsing tomorrow."**_ said Kyuubi from inside him. Naruto sighed for the millionth tim that night, and went into the tent that his team shared. It took him a while to get to sleep, and when he did, Kyuubi made sure that his dreams were peaceful.

The next morning, they reached their destination; a small, remote, peaceful village. Kakashi collected the payment from the head of the village, and they headed home. This time, they took another route, that was a bit longer, but took them well away from the gorge. The genin's minds were still on the previous day's happenings, and tradgities. A couple times, Sasuke and Sakura heard sniffles from Naruto, but every time that they turned to look at him, his face was placid and tear free. They knew that it was a minor genjutsu, but didn't do anything about it.

Reaching Konahakure by sundown, they went to their respective houses, and tried despratly to get rid of the memories of Icefire's death. Kakashi had cancled training for the next day, leaving the genin to their own devices. Naruto did not dream that night, he did not want to. Hinata suspected that something had happened to Icefire from the look on Naruto's face, and the ice dragon's absence, but did not ask what happened; Naruto would speak in his own time.

---------------------------------------------------At Icefire's Grave----------------------------------------------------------------

A soft blue glow envaloped the rock pile as the sun set behind the trees along one side of the trees. A couple of rocks shifted, and fell off of the pile. A figure approached the pile and stared at it curiously. All of a sudden, a blue, glowing tail shot out of the pile and grabbed the figure. It squeezed the innocent man until his back broke, then went completely limp.

------------------------------------------------Back in Konahakure---------------------------------------------------------------

Naruto walked silently along a lonely road, leading out to the forest. He needed time to think, and to be away from everyone. He was unaware of Hinata's presence, he was to obsorbed in his thoughts. A couple of times, he had heared Icefire's voice in his head, asking why Naruto had left him, why it was so dark, and why he was so cold. He shook his head to dismiss the thoughts of the dragon.

Naruto looked at the dragon shaped scar on his hand, and then lowered it. He sighed and continued on. Hinata followed him desctetly from behind.

Off in the distance, there was a loud crash, then another that was a little closer. Three more crashes followed, each one a little closer, and Naruto dropped into a taijutsu stance. A green blur shot out of the trees ahead of him and threw a punch at the blond's head. Naruto blocked the punch and kicked the green blur now defined as Lee—again--in the stomach. This stopped him and threw him into a tree.

"Not now Lee. I'm not in the mood." he said, sadness hanging on his every word.

"What's wrong my youthful friend? Where is your youthful scaly friend?" the look Naruto threw him clearly said every thing. "Oh. I am sorry Naruto-kun. I did not relize... well as my punishment, I will kick the log two thousand times, and if I can not do that, I will run three-hundred laps around the village backwards on my hands backwards." with that he sped off ranting about youth and what he would do if he could not do this or that.

Hinata decided to make her presence known, and came up behind Naruto and gave him a hug. The blond stiffened, but relaxed, turned around, and hugged her back. He felt something wet on his shoulder through his jump suit, and relised that Hinata was crying. He started to shed tears of his own, and they cryed themselves out.

"H-he died protecting those that he had to Naruto-kun. I'm sure that he is happy where ever he is." she whispered quietly. Naruto could not reply, so he just nodded. He led her over to a tree that was a good distance from the road, and they settled down for a while. About fifteen minuetes later, they were found by Kiba. Their tears had long dried, and they were sleeping.

"Hm, wonder what happened to them to make them sleep in the snow? What do you think Akamaru?" he said

_Yip! Yip! _Replied the white puppy.

"You may be right Akamaru. But let's wake them before they catch frostbite." he shook Naruto awake while Akamaru licked Hinata's face to wake her up. Hinata was up after a few licks, but Naruto was out like a light. Kiba sighed and hit the blond on the head.

"Kiba-kun!" said Hinata. "Don't do that." she dropped her voice to a whisper. "He lost Icefire, and is taking it pretty hard." Kiba blinked, and muttered an apology to the girl while still shaking Naruto. After five minuets, the blond kitsune was awake.

"What do you want dog breath? I'm not in the mood today to deal with you, let alone turn you into a smear on the ground." he grumbled.

"Why you...! Hmph, well, I _was_ going to do my part and wake you before you caught frostbite. But if you _want_ to freeze to death and have your arms and legs sawed off, then that's fine by me."said the dog boy. Naruto glared at him and climbed into the tree branches above him, knocking a pile of snow onto the dog user in the process. Kiba growled and was about to jump after him, but Hinata's hand on his arm stopped him. He looked at her and she shook her head. Kiba nodded and bid her a quick farewell, then sprinted off, with Akamaru in tow.

"Naruto-kun?" no answer. "Naruto-kun, daijobu? (are you alright)" still, no answer. Hinata sighed and leaped into the tree, and landed next to the boy. She gasped when she got a look at his expression. There were tears running down his cheeks, and his eyes were hollow and cold. His eyes were flashing from red to blue, and the scars on his cheeks were more defined. "Naruto-kun?" he didn't even look at her.

Hinata grabbed his jacket's collar, and pulled him into a kiss. Not a deep one, just enough to get him to look at her. "Now that I have your attention, do you want to talk about what happened. It will make you feel better."

"What's there to talk about? Icefire's gone, that's the end of it, nothing else. How can you care about a monster like me? I've never done anything to help you, never done anything to save you from the life that you have now."

Hinata gazed sternly at him. "Oh Naruto-kun, I don't think that your a monster, and you have done plenty for me. You gave me courage and belived in me when no one else would, and I love my life as it is now. It was always in my fantacies that I was living with you, and being with you through all of your hardships and good times. I would have given any thing to have the life that I do now not even a week ago." she gave him a hug when she finished speaking, and breathed a deep sigh, leaning her head against his chest, listening to his heart beat.

Naruto was supprised at her speech. She was one of the first people that would have said something like that to him, and he felt a warm feeling bubbling deep inside him. Was this love that he was feeling? He had never felt this for anyone before, not even Sakura. He hugged her back tightly, and they stayed like that until the sun set behind the tree line.

Hurring home as it began to snow, Naruto and Hinata thought about all of the times that they had been put on missons together, and how much they had grown to know each other. Now for Naruto, those feelings of friendship were develping into love.

----------------------------------------------On the outskirts of the village------------------------------------------------------

A tall figure stood watching the couple walk home with a knowing smile on its face. The former Yondaime Hokage watched his son with pride as he led the Hyuuga girl home.

_'My son, you have found love at last. I'm glad that someone finaly accepts you for who you are.' _he thought. Turning to his assistant, he nodded and disappeared in a flash of golden light.

_**Mwahahaha! Two chappies in one day! I;m so evil!**_

_**Naruto: Shit man, you made this one depressing.**_

_**Me: i know. It was ment to be so. Get over it. The next one will be happier.**_

_**Kiba: Yata!! I've finaly been put in the story! I'm so happy, even if it was briefly.**_

_**Me: Yeah, well. Not to burst your bubble but, this will probaly be the only time that you appear in this story. Sorry!**_

_**Kiba: Aw, maa, your mean.**_

_**Me: I know.**_

_**Naruto: Spirit does not own me, dog breath, or any other Naruto characters. But she does own Icefire, Lanna, G'reth, Yukari, and this plot.**_

_**Ja!**_


	6. Icefire's Return and Sunagakue

The Dragon's Cave and Other Adventures Ch 6 _Recap: A tall figure stood watching the couple walk home with a knowing smile on its face. The former Yondaime Hokage watched his son with pride as he led the Hyuuga girl home. _

_'My son, you have found love at last. I'm glad that someone finaly accepts you for who you are.' he thought. Turning to his assistant, he nodded and disappeared in a flash of golden light._

A month had gone by without Icefire, but Naruto was still hearing him in his head. Why that was he didn't understand, but he had long since moved on. Currently he was on a mission to escort a Clan head back to Sunagakure for a meeting of Clan heads. Man that guy was getting on his nerves. He insisted on special treatment, and that the genin do every bloody thing that he says. The blond was ready to rip his own hair out!

The mission was B-class, a very low B-class. It was just him, Sasuke, and Sakura on this one, no Kakashi-no-hentai to bother them. It was late and they were in the process of setting up camp... and listening to their client rant on about how maginificant he was. Sasuke wanted to send that guy flying via giant fireball express. There was a rustling in the bushes, and they tensed. The only thing that apeared was a Naruto clone carring a line of fish from the lake that they were near. Naruto took the fish and dismissed the clone.

After they ate, the oh-so-important Clan head, Sasuke and Sakura went to sleep, with Naruto taking first watch. When the moon was high, there was a violent rustling in the trees and bushes, and a powerful group of nuke nin sprung out of them to attack the genin. Acting quickly, Naruto made several clones, and shook Sasuke and Sakura awake. He then went back to the battle. After five minuetes, two of the five nuke nin had been taken out. But just as one was ready to take off Naruto's head, there was a flash of pale blue light, and the man was minus his head and an arm.

There was an earth shattering roar, and a large figure swooped out of the trees and the other two nuke nin were hoisted into the air and burned alive. When the figure came back down, the light of the dieing fir lit up it's face. It was Icefire, but his apearance had changed. The horns on his head had grown out and formed a streatched S shape. His snout was longer, and there was a horn growing on it, his claws were longer and had turned black; his scales were a darker blue color, and he looked more muscular. His tail was also longer and the arrow on his tail looked sharper, and the spikes on his back and tail were longer.

He shoved his head forward and looked closely at Naruto, as though he didn't recognize him. Then, his eyes lit up, and he licked Naruto's face, earning a chuckle from the blond. The others just stared at the not-so-dead-dragon-who-they-thought-was-dead dragon. Sasuke was first to speak.

"Icefire? I thought you were dead." the dragon regarded the Uchiha carefuly, and grinned at him.

**"Mmm... no, not really. Though I was in a death like state. I kept sending this one messages through our mental link to try and get him to come back and get those stones off of me. I have now ****developed a deep hatred for all rocks." **the others laughed at his coment. The man that they were escorting decided to come out of his tent at this point in time. When he saw Icy, he shrieked and fell back onto his ass. **"Hm, can I eat him?" **asked the dragon, glaring at the man.

"Be my guest." said Naruto

"Naruto! We have to complete the mission, though if it was any other situation, he would definatly be free to eat the guy. He's getting on my nerves." stated Sakura. (in other words, the ugly forehead bitch.) Naruto sighed and told the dragon to stand down.

"You've changed Icy." said Sasuke. "Well, not personalitly wise, but in appearance. What happened?"

**"Well, first I think that I should explain why I not as dead as you thought I was. After I fell off of that cliff, I did die, but I'm good friends with Shikigami. (i think that's it. But he's that death god that yondy used to seal Kyuu) He gave me another chance, and sent me back. He also gave me a bit of an upgrade. I'm faster, stronger, and have more stamina. Maybe not as much as Stamina King over here, (looks at Naru-kun) but quite a lot." **when finished explaining, the others were looking at him with saucer eyes. **"What?" **

"That's... so... cool! What else changed? Did you get any special abilities?" you can kinda know who that is without me saying it.

**"Well, old sheet head said that there were some other things that were different, but didn't specify. I guess that we'll just have to wait and see." **replied the dragon.

It was nearing dawn, so they decided to move on. Icy was curled up on Naruto's head asleep, the size of a large chicken. And no not those Godzilla sized chickens either, that would crush the poor boy. It would be another few hours of putting up with their cliants ranting, but thankfuly, Naruto carried several pairs of earplugs with him for whenever he ran into Ino, Lee, Gai, or Temari in a bad mood. So they had no problems.

Reaching Sunagakure, they decided to spend the night there, because they were tired from the previous night's events. Naruto was acting as though he never thought Icy was gone. That was a good thing in the minds of Sasuke and Sakura, it meant that he would start acting more like himself, than the sitting-in-an-emo-corner self that he had become. When they were searching for somewhere to eat, they ran into Gaara and Kankuro who had the same thing in mind.

Ever since the Chunin Exams, Gaara had become more social, and smiled a little too. To say that the brothers were surprised to see Team 7 in Suna, was like saying that the sky was green. So, leading them to a popular resturaunt, that of course excepted pets of all kinds, they got caught up on news, and what was happening whith their lives. To everyone's suprise, Gaara did most of the talking. He told stories of the last couple of times when Temari decided to cook, and of when Kankuro—much to his dismay—almost made their house explode. Then Naruto told of Icefire's 'great reserection,' as he put it. Said dragon was still perched on the blond's head, his now very dark blue scales clashing sharply with Naruto's bright yellow hair. Then when Naruto started to rant about the time when he went on a ramen eating spree, the dragon smacked him on the forehead—he had removed his forehead protector—and told him to shut up.

The sand brothers offered to let the foursome spend the night at their house, seeing as it was huge and they had like a million spare rooms that they never used. The Konoha genin gratefuly accepted the offer, and they were led to the Sand sibs residance. But... when they reached it, there was smoke coming out of one of the windows.

"Ugh. Looks like 'Mari's trying to cook again." said Kankuro. Both him and Gaara shuddered. When they reached the kitchen, there was food everywhere. Temari was beating on one of the pots that looked like it was trying to eat her instead of vice versa. She ran outside, and the others followed hastily. When everyone was out, she slammed the kitchen door shut and leaned against it.

"It's alive!" she whisper-yelled. "Gaara, can you sand smush that for me?"

"What, again? Temari..."

"Just do it. Unless you want that thing crawling up your shirt tonight."

"Fine." Gaara stomped into the kitchen. There were a few small crashes, then a lot of large ones, then an exclamation of **"SAND COFFIN!!" **and Gaara came out of the kitchen, covered in all sorts of... food items that were now undefinable. "Happy now?"

"Yes, very. Thank you Gaar-Gaar."

"Don't call me..."

"Um, 'Mari. We have guests, and I think that you're scaring them with your evil cooking of doom." Kankuro cut in. Truth be told, the Konoha genin and ice dragon had backed away to the other side of the _house_. Temari apologized, but when she spotted Icy, who looked like a chibi version of his larger form, she squealed like a fangirl, and the dragon was off of Naruto's head faster than he could blink. Temari started to hug him so hard that he literaly turned purple.

**"Ack! Let go. Can't...gasp... breath!" **

"Oops, sorry." she didn't let go, much to the dragon's sorrow, but her vice like grip did loosen noticably. Icefire heard Naruto snicker, and let out a small stream of fire that was meant to make him dance like a ballerina. And dance he did. When Icy let up on him, everyone was on the floor laughing their asses off. Even Gaara and Sasuke. Icefire took Temari's laughter as an opportunity to wriggle out of her grasp.

They talked late into the night, and around midnight, the Konoha genin went to bed, so did Temari and Kankuro. Gaara and Icy stayed up to keep talking. Icefire had grown to the size of a pit bull (me luffes pits), and was laying on the couch next to Gaara. They kept swapping stories, and when the sun rose, Icy had fallen asleep. At around nine, the others were awake, and Temari offered to make breakfast, to which got a quick reply of "NO!!!" from everyone. Instead, Kankuro and Naruto cooked. They made everyone scrambled eggs and toast, with hashbrowns and sausage. (my favorite breakfast.) And, unlike Temari's cooking, this was actually edible, and didn't come alive on their plates. When they finished everyone that didn't cook, gave their complements to the chefs.

The sand sibs lead Team 7 to the gates, and bid them a quick farewell. Instead of walking, Icefire gave them a ride across the desert, and over the forest. They got home at around five that after noon. Icy was right when he said that he was faster and had more stamina. They went to the Hokage Tower to give Tsunade their mission report, and she nealy had a stroke when a bull sized dragon landed on her balcony.

"Hey, Obaa-chan! Look who's back!" exclaimed Naruto from the dragon's back. Sasuke tossed her the mission report, and got off of the ice dragon. Tsunade caught the report, and skimmed it.

"So, you were attacked. Hm, well done. Go down stairs to recive your payment. And Naruto... if you call me Obaa-chan, Baa-chan, or anything along that line, you will be sent half way to hell, literaly." Naruto nodded and followed Sasuke and Sakura out of the Hokage's office, Icefire perched on his shoulder, the size of a cat.

When they recived their payments, they went their seperate ways. Hinata nearly had a heart attack when she saw Icefire on Naruto's shoulder. They quickly explained things, and she nodded.

"That makes since, I guess. It's good to have you back Icefire."

**"It's good to be back. So did anything happen between the two of you that I should know of?"**

"Not really. Couldn't you have read my mind while you were in that death like state."

**"Nope. I could only send messages."**

**"**Oh. Ok. Well, lets get something to eat. I'm hungry." they went to Ichiraku, no supprising, and Naruto gorged himself on ramen. He finished ten bowls in no time, while Hinata only finished two, and Icy only finished five. He was on the counter eating standing up, not wanting to draw attention by changing his size. Hinata got a sudden urge to shop, so she dragged the poor unfortunate souls around town buying various things. At one point, Icy asked to borow some money, but didn't say why. He disappeared into a shop, and came out with a small bag hangging off of his tail. He handed the extra cash back to Hinata, and they continued on.

By the time they were done with their shopping spree, it was eight at night, and the trio went home.

--------------------------------------------------On the Hokage Monument-----------------------------------------------------

"Sir, the dragon is back."

"Good, that's good. Thank you. Tell your men, that I will no longer need them."

"Yes sir." the man disappeared, leaving Minato to himself.

"Naruto, I wonder how you're doing. I haven't seen you lately. I hope that you can forgive me for what i put you through." he mused. In a flash of golden light, he was gone, leaving behind no trace that he had ever been there.

_**Ha! Told you it would be happy again. And I even put in some comedy. Basicly, this was a sensless drabble chappie, but I liked it.**_

_**Naruto: You made Gaara too OOC.**_

_**Me: So?**_

_**Gaara: You had me sand smush living food.**_

_**Me: Again, so? And here's a cookie for your troubles.**_

_**Gaara: (chibi) yay! My cookie! Mwahahah!**_

_**Naruto: See! Too OOC.**_

_**Me: Disclaimer please.**_

_**Naruto: Fine, Spirit does not own me, sand boy over there, or any other Naruto characters. **_

_**Icefire: but she does own me, and this plot.**_

_**Ja!**_


	7. A Not So Good Morning and Ryuu

The Dragon's Cave and Other Adventures 

Ch. 7

_Recap: On the Hokage Monument-_

_"Sir, the dragon is back."_

_"Good, that's good. Thank you. Tell your men, that I will no longer need them."_

_"Yes sir." the man disappeared, leaving Minato to himself._

_"Naruto, I wonder how you're doing. I haven't seen you lately. I hope that you can forgive me for what i put you through." he mused. In a flash of golden light, he was gone, leaving behind no trace that he had ever been there._

"Wake up you salty old boot!" exclaimed Naruto, shaking Icefire. Whom, even after twenty minuetes of violent shaking, wouldn't get up.

**"Don't wanna." **he moaned, rolling over. Naruto sighed for the millionth time that morning, and hit the dragon on the head, receiving only a grunt.

"Come on! We're going to be late for training."

**"It doshen't relly mutter when Kakashi's a lashy ash and would be late anyway."** slurred the dragon. He kicked Naruto in the gut, sending him across the room. Naruto glared at the half asleep dragon, and got up.

"Fine, I guess that I'll just call Sakura and..."

**"Don't... you... dare...!" **exclaimed the now fully awake Icefire. The last time Naruto had to call Sakura over when he wouldn't get up, he was sent through the wall... and the wall was solid concrete.

"That's better. Now come on! Get up you lazy ass and lets go!" Icefire groaned and pounced off the bed, onto Naruto's shoulder, the size of Akamaru. "So, last week when we went shopping after your return, what did you buy? I saw you carrying a bag."

**"I'm not telling you until the right time blondy. Now, can you move a little faster please. Weren't you just complaining about me being slow, and your dragging your feet?" **Naruto 'hmphed' and picked up the pace, arriving at the bridge in no time. Sasuke was there, but Sakura wasn't.

"Where's Sakura?" asked Naruto.

"Sick. She called me earlier, asking me if I wanted to come over and take care of her. As if I would do that." repiled the raven. Mentaly, the three boys jumped and whooped of joy.

**"So... I got out of bed from a threat that you couldn't carry out... Naruto?" **growled the navy blue dragon. His eyes were practicaly glowing with annoyance and anger. He dug his razor sharp claws deep into Naruto's shoulder, and wouldn't let go, even when Naruto tugged with all of his might. Sasuke was smirking in amusement, watching the two quaral.

There was a puff of smoke, and Kakashi appeared, on time, and pissed looking. Naruto and Sasuke stared at him with saucer eyes, while Icefire was still glaring and growling at Naruto, his claws still embeded in his shoulder. Kakashi sighed, and looked over his shoulder nervously, as though he was expecting an attack.

"Have you seen her?"whispered the pervert

"Who?" asked Naruto, confused.

"Kurenai! She's been stealing my books, then burning them infront of me when ever she sees me reading one! I only have one left." Kakashi moaned. The look in his eyes... eye!... was pure agony.

"No, but Hinata-chan said that she was leading a mission to the Village Hidden in the Mist. So, unless she recruted the help of any other girls in the village, I don't think that you have anything to worry about." replied the blonde.

**"Hmph, I'm not supprised that she's been burning those piles of rubbish. Those books are putrid! I can't see ho... actualy, I can, but that dosen't matter. You really need to stop reading those... things that you call best selling novels." **grunted Icy.

"You sure are in a bad mood today." inquired Naruto.

**"You would be to if you were as light a sleeper as I am, and had to listen to the cat next door yowl, **_**and **_**your obnoxious snoring. I was ready to stick a cork in your mouth last night. And I'm sure that Hinata thought that someone drugged your food with how you were moaning and gurrgling. In other words, long story short, I got a grand GOLDEN total of two and a half hours of sleep last night!"**raved the dragon. He would have continued his rant, if it was not for Kakashi giving off a dry cough.

"Sorry to interupt your wonderful speech, but we have a mission. It was originaly for three genin, but seeing as though Icy is at least Kage level, I assumed that two genin and a dragon was enough. Its a C-ranked mission, but there's a catch. You have to escort a four year old and his older sister, AND... do everything that they say without complaint, Naruto. If you protest, then they won't pay us." Sasuke, Naruto, and Icefire groaned. "They are waiting at the village gates."

The genin plodded off to the village gates. Icefire still haden't removed his claws, but Naruto didn't seem to notice the fire like pain coming from the dragon's slightly poisonous claws. The poison was just enough to cause pain, but not enough to kill someone Naruto's size. When they reached the gates, an impaitent ten year old, and an oblivious four year old were waiting for them. Naruto had to suppress a groan when he saw them.

_**"Oi! I've delt with their kind before. Keep your head high, mouth shut, and shoulders straight. And don't whine, that'll just tick them off." **_said Icefire from inside his head.

_'Thanks Icy. And do me a favour, and remove your claws from my shoulder please.'_

_**"Oh, sorry." **_Icefire emeidiatly removed his claws, and moved to Naruto's head, licking blood off of his hand.

The ten year old didn't even wait for them to introduce themselves, she just nodded and started to walk away. No one spoke, but the look on the genin and dragon's faces spoke volumes, especialy Naruto's. All of a sudden, Naruto felt a tap on his shoulder, and Icy's tail swung infront of his face, pointing to the bushes to the left. Naruto gave a tiny nod, and signaled to Sasuke—who was walking behind him—to be on his guard. There was a slight rustling in the bushes, and a large wolf leaped out, it was covered in old battle wounds. The right side of its upper lip was torn, his left ear mangled—as though something had clawed it off—and its left eye was missing. There were several chunks bitten out of his tail, and his right eye was extremely clouded—meaning, he was completely blind. And his right front paw was so mangled that you couldn't even tell that it was a paw, let alone him being able to use it. He was a fadded grey color, and had several swirls of brown littering it, giving off a godly impression.

The ten year old girl shreiked and grabbed her brother protectivly, but the ninjas didn't move. When she had shreiked, the wolf's head snapped to her, and he made several sniffing motions. Naruto heard Icefire give off a supprised grunt, and the dragon leaped off of his head, infront of the wolf, the same size as it.

**"Ryuution (dragon release)?" **the wolf's head swung to Icy, and he sniffed him.

"Icy? Is that really you? I thought you were trapped in that cave." for a wolf that had so many wounds, he didn't sound old at all. In fact, he sounded like he was quite young.

**"Yeah, its realy me. What happened to you? Last time I saw ya, you had both of your eyes."**

"Yeah well, times change. Fourteen years can make a huge difference."

"Uh... Icy, who is this?" Naruto piped up nervously. He had never seen this wolf before, and the fact alone that Icefire knew him meant that he could be trusted.

**"Oh! This is Ryuution, an old friend of mine. But you can call him Ryuu, its easier to say and remember. And Ryuu, this is Naruto and Sasuke, a couple of genin from Konoha, where I now live as Naruto's dragon."**

"So... you finaly found a rider huh? Well step forward you two so I can have a good sniff, give a blind animal some sympathy here." the two boys nervously stepped forward, and Ryuu sniffed them, to learn more about them. "Hm, the Sasuke one, smells like he has some deep buried ambitions, and feelings that he dosen't want anyone to find out. Then Naruto smells like he has power that could match yours Icy, he's different he is. Is he the one who..."

**"Yes he is. But don't bring up that subject now. We're on a mission, and the screaming one that you heard earlier is one of our clients. Do you want to join us, when we get back to the village, we can have Baa-chan look at you."**

"Sure! I guess, if that's alright."

"Sure its alright!" exclaimed Naruto. "Come on, let's finish up the mission, then get you home, you can stay with Icy, Hinata-chan, me too." Ryuu nodded, and they continued on. He didn't seem to have a problem moving around, and he explained that he used his hearing, sense of smell, and the ability to sense chakra through the ground when ever one of them took a step, then sensing chakra from the air. He and Icefire chatted, telling stories, and cracking jokes, that had everyone except the ten year and four year old brats laughing.

It took until around noon to get the escorties to their homes, and the two genin, dragon, and wolf hastily left. They didn't want to be around those two any longer than they needed to. When the two chunin at the gates saw Ryuu, they were a bit supprised. And when they saw Naruto, they glared at him. Icefire glared right back, making them flench. Sasuke and Naruto led the way to the Hokage Tower, to turn in their mission reports, and try and convince Tsunade to look at Ryuu. Lucy for them, she was sober, and in a good mood.

"So, what you're saying is, you want me to take a look at a wolf that you just met, that looks like he was shoved in a shredder."

"Yup!"

**"Well, I've known him since we were kids, so... just do what you can."**

"Fine, I'll give you a call when I'm done examining him. Now leave."

The two genin and dragon left, leaving Ryuu behind to Tsunade. Ryuu turned to her, and blinked (yes both eyes, he kept both open, even though he is missing an eye). "Do I realy look like I was shoved in a shredder?" he asked innocently.

"Kind of. I mean, you are missing a paw, ear and eye, and a good portion of your tail."

"True, and I'm blind. Now that part is just plain unfair! I'm not even in my prime yet, and I'm at least twenty years younger than Icefire."

"How old is Icefire anyway? He's never told me, or any one else."

"Do you know Kyuubi?" Tsunade nodded. "Multiply his age by two, then subtract eight, and that is Icy's age."

"So, let's see here... he's 1792 years old." Ryuu nodded. "Wow, that's old."

"Not for a dragon. Now come on! Let's see what you can do to fix me up."

Tsunade nodded again, and stepped forward.

---------With Naruto, Icy, and Sasuke---------

"Wow, Ryuu looks horrible. I wonder what happened to him to make him look like _tha_t." comented Naruto. Sasuke just rolled his eyes and snorted. They were going to see Sakura, why is beyond me, but they were. Sasuke was busy wondering why he was going along, while Icy and Naruto were talking with each other.

**"Yeah, well. Don't say that to his face, or anything else about his apearance. I don't know how sensitive he is, so just watch what you say in that catigory." **hissed the ice dragon. He was perched on Naruto's head, watching the villagers walk past, glaring at anyone who glared at Naruto, letting them know that the blonde was under his protection, and that they better not try anything funny. He sighed and said, **"Tell me again why we are going to see the pink banshee? Her hair is so... bright and **_**pink**_**—someone gag me—that it burns my eyes. I wonder what her parents look like to make her hair **_**that**_** color, or if she dyes it. If you can call it a color."**

"Because if we don't, she will get offended, then when she gets better, she will send all four of us straight to hell, in every definition of the phrase." chortled Sasuke. He had a look on his face that screamed that he was enjoying the little house call as much, if less, a Icy was. If it was possible.

-------------On a roof top near by-----------

A tall figure crouched watching the genin and dragon with a smile on his face. He couldn't hear what they were saying, but he was glad to see his son. Minato gave a small satified nod, they disappeared in a puff of smoke.

_**Aaaand that's a rap folks. Well, for this chappie any way. And don't worry, Naruto's gonna meet his dad soon enough, be paitient.**_

_**Naruto: That one was actualy pretty good.**_

_**Me: Thanks! And sorry about the grusome detail on Ryuu, I had to burn the image of a extremly battle scared wolf demon into everyone's heads, so... haha... yeah.**_

_**Naruto: Spirit does not own me or any other Naruto characters.**_

_**Ryuu: But she does own me, Icefire, and this plot**_

_**Ja!**_


	8. A Very Important Author's Note

Author's Note. 

Alright, I'm going to hold a poll. For those of you that want Ryuu to be Hinata's nin wolf or Sasuke's nin wolf, put it in a review. I cannot update until I get a definate answer. But please let him be Hinata's, I don't want Sasuke to have him, because I am going to put the fight between him and Naruto, and he will be torn between helping his master, and helping his childhood friend and his rider. But, its your choice, not mine. Vote for Sasuke or Hinata. Ja!


	9. Visiting Sakura

The Dragon's Cave and Other Adventures 

Ch 8

_Recap: __On a roof top near by----_

_A tall figure crouched watching the genin and dragon with a smile on his face. He couldn't hear what they were saying, but he was glad to see his son. Minato gave a small satified nod, they disappeared in a puff of smoke._

Because Sakura had forcefully dragged Sasuke to her house on several ocasions, he knew the way quite well. He was just praying that she had died or something, that way, they could get out of there sooner. All three of them were dead quiet, not wanting to be this bloody close to Sakura's house in any way or form. Anyway, Sasuke led the way to the pink banshee's house, wearing his usual scowl, but it seemed to be darker then normal. Icefire had dozed off about five minuetes ago, and Naruto had spaced out. Sasuke dropped back and poked Naruto, just as he was about to hit a pole.

"Huh? What happened?"

"You were about to be very good friends with that pole." Sasuke said with a smirk. "You spaced out a while ago. Come on, let's get the tourture over with, we're almost there."

"Right." muttered Naruto. He sighed, and prodded Icefire awake. His neck was hurting with him being up there, and if he was asleep when they visited Sakura, she would send him to Mars, sick or not.

**"Huh? What happened to the sake?"**

"Man, have you been going with Baa-chan on her party nights or somethin? Get off my head, my neck is getting stiff."

**"No I have not! I just like sake. But I don't get so high on it that I can't count the fingers on my hand, unlike several someones that I could name." **muttered the blue dragon, clambering onto Naruto's shoulder.

"You don't drink, do you dobe?"

"No! Well, I did once, but the hangover that I got was hell, so I haven't since. And don't you tell me that I'm under age, I know that fact very well!" Naruto scratched the back of his head sheepishly and grinned. Sasuke and Icefire rolled their eyes.

After another three minuetes of walking, they reached Sakura's house, and quietly knocked on the door. Icefire was struggling to stay awake, and groaned when a tall pink haired woman opened the door. He had a suspision that one of Sakura's parents had pink hair to make her hair that color, and he was thankful that it wasn't her dad.

"Oh! You must be Sasuke!" she exclaimed. When she looked at Naruto, her face darkened and she looked him up and down, as though looking for any fox demon like limbs.

"No Haruno-san I do not have tails, before you ask. _We _are here to see Sakura."

"Don't you speak to me in that tone mister! I will not allow your kind in this house. I don't care if you are my daughter's team mate, or her lover—please god no—but you will not be alowed past this thresh hold." she said while glaring at Naruto. Icefire growled lowly and glared right back at her. "What's your salamander going to do, nip me? As if her could do any thing." Icefire's growl lowered and his eyes narrowed dangerously.

"Excuse me, Haruno-san... you might want to take that back. I can not guarentee that I can hold him back if you get him too mad." warned Naruto.

"Haruno-san, you _will_ let _all three_ of us in." ordered Sasuke. Sakura's mother glanced at the raven, and hesitated. "What will Sakura say when you tell her that I came to see her, then left because you wouldn't let Naruto in with me? And you'd best take back your words to the dragon, now, trust me, he is a lot stronger than he looks. Now step aside and let us in, now!"

The elder pink haired banshee stepped out of the way, muttering an apology. Sasuke led the way up to Sakura's room, that he unfortunetly knew the way to. Knocking on her door, he opened it when he got the consent to do so. When he pushed the door open, he almost had to sheild his eyes. Everything was pink! Pink walls, ceiling, bed, wardrobe, ect, ect, ect. Sakura herself had her back turned, and was tucked tightly under the covers on her bed.

"Sakura?" she rolled over, and squeeled a fangirl squeel.

"Sasuke-kun! You came!"

"Yes, but I'm not staying. We just dropped by to say hey."

"We?" she croaked

"Yes, me, Naruto, and Icefire. So hey, glad you ain't dead, and goodbye." he turned around and walked out of the room, the other two coppied his actions, and left. Icy breathed a quiet sigh of relief when they were out of the house.

**"I'm not gonna be able to feel my eyes for a week. How can she stand that much pink!?"**

"Don't know, don't care." replied Sasuke. "Well, I need to be getting home and get something to eat. Ja." he leaped onto a roof top and ran in the direction of his house.

_**Well, there's that chappie. I know it was short, it was just something to hold all of you off until I give the results of the poll. Ja!**_


	10. The Present and Minato

_A\N: And the results are (drumroll)... Hinata!! Its anonymous folks! I only got one review asking for Ryuu to be Sasuke's nin wolf. Here's Chappie 9!_

The Dragon's Cave and Other Adventures

Ch. 9

_Recap: **"I'm not gonna be able to feel my eyes for a week. How can she stand that much pink!?"**_

_"Don't know, don't care." replied Sasuke. "Well, I need to be getting home and get something to eat. Ja." he leaped onto a roof top and ran in the direction of his house._

Naruto sighed as he and Icefire walked back to Tsunade's tower. She had called him that morning, saying that they needed to come and pick Ryuu up. It was too bloody early to be up now. (4:30 a.m.) Icy was sleeping soundly on his head, snoring lightly. Naruto prodded him, but got no response. Icefire stretched and rolled over, letting out a supprised yell as he tumbled off of the blonde's head.

"Have a good nap?" asked Nartuto sacasticly.

**"Yes I did. Especialy the part where I fell off your head and onto the cold hard ground. Tell me again why the hag wanted us to pick Ryuu up this early?"**

"I dunno. But she did, and let's not argue with her, especialy this early." Icy nodded and yawned, leaping onto Naruto's shoulder. Reaching the Hokage Tower, Naruto pushed the door open and quietly walked in. He almost tripped over himself when Ryuu came around the corner. He wasn't expecting him to be up.

"Hey guys. The old hag is asleep, so lets go." he whispered.

"How'd you know it was us?"

"I could smell you. You, Naruto, smell like Icy, ramen, and sweat. Icy smells like you, and leather. Now come on, Tsunade got high last night and will have one hell of a hangover." Naruto and Icefire gulped and turned around hastily. They made their way back home, moving from rooftop to rooftop quiet as a mouse.

Naruto quietly lead the way into the house, closing the door silently behind him. The last time he woke Hinata up this early, he was in the hospital for two days, and he didn't want a repeat of that episode. Sighing, he showed Ryuu to the heavily coushined couch in the living room, seeing that there was no room left anywhere else.

"Hinata-chan will probaly have a heart attack when she sees you, so when you hear her get up, hide behind the couch, and I'll explain everything to her over breakfast."

"Gotcha." whispered the wolf. He clambered onto the couch, and fell into a light sleep.

8:00 a.m.-

Ryuu's ears perked up when her heard a light shuffling and a soft yawn. His blind eyes shot open, and he quickly dove behind the couch. Breathing a soft sigh, he chuckled silently to himself at not being caught. Not very long after Hinata woke up, Naruto and Icefire were up. Naruto was glad that Ryuu hadn't been caught, but tensed when he saw Hinata head over to the couch to watch TV.

"Hinata-chan, what do you want for breakfast?" he called from the kitchen.

"Nothing much, Naruto-kun. Just some eggs or something."

"Oh, Hinata-chan, we are going to have a visitor this morning, so don't freak out when he gets here." Ryuu took that as a signal to reveal himself, so using a transportation jutsu, he poofed infront of Hinata, nearly giving her a stroke.

"Yo." he said. Even though he was blind, he still looked at whoever he was speaking to, if he knew where they were. That was the polite thing to do, even though he wasn't one to be polite normaly.

"This is Ryuu, Icy's childhood friend." said Naruto, coming out of the kitchen. Icefire was trailing behind him, about the size of a doberman. He laughed at the expression on Hinata's face, it was priceless. She was looking Ryuu over carefuly, taking in every detail of him.

Now that there was a light on, they could see that the mangled paw was gone, and the stump that was left was wrapped up in a white bandage; dead skin that was hanging off of his tail and ear was gone, the scars that littered his body were cleaned up, all except the biggest were gone. The empty socket where his left eye was hadn't been closed, but it looked less gruesome. His torn lip had been healed some, but you could still see his fangs through it. Ryuu's fur was also cleaner, his what had looked like fadded gray fur was actualy a quite dark gray, and the swirls of brown were darker too.

**"Haha, don't look like that Hinata-chan. He's quite nice, and a good friend, ain'tcha Ryuu?"**

"Yup. Plus, me and Icy go way back, and I may be blind, but I don't need the handicaps or special treatment that most blind people, demons, animals, whatever demand. I'm quite capible of taking care of myself." replied the wolf demon. He grinned, and chuckled quietly.

Hinata smiled slightly at the wolf's antics. Then she noticed that Icefire had stiffened slightly, and seemed to be trying to remember something.

**"Oh! That's right. I got something for you guys." **he turned around and sprinted into Naruto's bedroom. He came back out with a bag hanging off of his tail. He handed it to Naruto and he opened it. Inside was a small figure. It was a dark blue dragon with fire coming out of it's mouth, and its tail was curled around two foxes. One was orange, and the other was a lavender-white color. Then as a back drop, it was a pale yellow full moon with a wolf silhouette on it. **"It's inhanced with chakra, so it'll never break, fade, or crack. And every time someone is added to this 'family', another animal will apear on it as a symbol of the person, or whatever he or she is. And you can thank Hinata-chan, she's the one who gave me the money to pay for it." **Naruto hugged Hinata tightly, then glomphed Icy with her, saying thankyous. Naruto then discibed it to Ryuu, and he nodded with a smile on his scarred face.

KNOCK, KNOCK!! "Wonder who that could be." muttered Naruto. He got up to answer and jumped a good ten feet in the air. It was a man who looked like a carbon copy of himself, minus the whisker marks. "Can I help you?" he asked uncertanly. Icefire peered around the corner, and snorted in a supprised way.

**"Minato?! I thought you were dead!" **the blonde man chuckled at the dragon.

"Not exactly my scaly friend." he replied in a deep voice.

"Whoa, wait. Didn't you say that Minato was the name of the Yondaime Hokage, and my father?" Icy nodded. Naruto turned back to the man in the doorway. "Th-then that means that you're my..."

"Father? Yes Naruto I am." Naruto, fainted. "Is he ok?"

**"Wave ramen infront of his face and he will be." **muttered the dragon. **"Of course we could always say that... Hinata is being attacked by evil bunnies!"** that worked. Naruto was off the ground in point nothing seconds, in a taijutsu stance, ready to attack. Icefire snickered while Minato chuckled. Naruto smacked Icefire on the head, cursing colorfuly.

"Why did you do that you crusty old handbag?!"

**"What did I tell you about calling me that!?" **the two glared at each other, and you could literaly see lightning crackling between them. Minato cleared his throught, and smiled nervously.

"Do you plan on letting me inside any time soon? Its a little nippy out here." (A\N: Its March now, but still a little chilly outside) the quarling duo stepped aside, and let the man in.

_**There you go folks! There's chappie 9. I own nothin' except Icy, Ryuu, and this plot. Ja!**_


	11. Explenation and Disappearance

The Dragon's Cave and Other Adventures 

Chapter 10

I own nothin'--unfortunetly...

"Naruto-kun... who is this?" Hinata asked quietly, eyeing the man standing before her. Naruto swallowed nervously and grinned.

"This, Hinata-chan, is Minato Namikaze, Yondaime Hokage of Konahakure, and my dad." he explained. Icefire mentaly counted down for her reaction, with a bored expression. Hinata displayed the same reaction that Naruto did... she fainted. "Um... Hinata-chan? Are you alright?" he looked at Icefire for help. Said dragon sighed, but instead of saying something rediculus, he went to her feet, tickling them lightly with his claws. Hinata kicked him in the face, but didn't wake up.

**"Oh ho. That hurt." **he groaned, holding his abused muzzle. He wiggled it around a little to get it to work again—a few cracks could be heard—and sighed. **"You handle this. I need to keep the feeling in the rest of my body, thank you." **he heaved himself to his paws and sat next to Ryuu. Naruto proceeded to shake the bluenette. Finally, she opened her eyes and sat up, looking around. Her pale eyes landed on Icy, who had dried blood on his muzzle from when she kicked him.

"What happened to you?" she asked quietly.

**"Oh nothing, I just decided to walk into a wall... you kicked me in the nose! What do you think happened?!" **he yelled, steam coming off his head. Hinata apologized quietly, a blush present on her cheeks. She turned her attention back to the not-so-dead Hokage who was watching the whole display with amusement. Icy—the size of a cat at the moment—jumped on Minato, clutching his collar, placing his back feet firmly on his chest, that way, they were nose to nose. **"Now, care to explain how the hell you're still alive!?" **he demanded.

"Uh, yeah, but first, get off me." Icefire complied and sat on Naruto's head—much to the blonde's displeasure—and waited, glaring pointedly at Minato. "Ehem. Well, all that I can remember is waking up in some random village after the night Kyuubi attacked. It took me some time to regain my streghth and memories, and even more time to get to Konoha. I've been observing you for a few months, and just now decided to meet you at last Naruto."

**"In other words, you were stalking him." **_**'And speaking of Kyuubi, want to introduce him to an old friend?' **_the dragon asked mentaly.

_'Sure. Kyuubi, what do you say?'_

_**"Ah, why not. Though Minato will probaly have a hernia when you summon me." **_replied the fox. Naruto could have sworn the kitsune was smirking.

"Speaking of Kyuubi... Kuchiyose no Jutsu: Kyuubi! (summoning jutsu: Kyuubi)" exclaimed the blonde after bitting his thumb.

"Are you insane?!" Minato demanded.

"Maybe. Just trust me on this." when the smoke cleared, a boxer dog sized Kyuubi was standing in its place. Icefire jumped down and landed on the kitsune's head.

**"And you better behave or I'm gonna go tazer happy on your ass." **he muttered to the fox. Said fox shuddered in memory of the last time Naruto and Icefire used the tazer on him. Before anyone could say anything, there was a fierce pounding on the door, and Icefire went to answer it—growing to the size of a human at the same time. When he opened the door, a very flustered Kiba was standing in the door way. **"Yes Kiba, what is it?" **

"Naruto has been summoned to the Hokage's office. Sasuke's gone missing and she thinks that he's gone to Orochimaru." Naruto was emeidiatly at the door, his eyes wide. He called to Hinata and Minato and Ryuu that he would be back later, as Kyuubi raced after him around the corner. Icefire flew the two humans to the Hokage Tower whild Kyuubi ran there, attrackting the attention of several villagers.

"Was that the Kyuubi?" one asked.

"No, if it was, than we would all be dead."

---Back with Naruto---

"Tsunade-baa-chan! Where's Sasuke?"demanded Naruto, climbing off a panting Icy. Kiba followed suit, not wanting the dragon to collaps. He hadn't flown that fast in quite a while. Kyuubi meanwhile leaped up beside the three, panting as well. Tsunade was about to reply when there was a flash of golden light and Minato was standing beside his son.

"Minato!? How the hell are you still living?!" a glare from Icy and Kyuu silenced the former Yondaime, and when the glares were turned to her, Tsunade jumped to the point. "Er, Sasuke has left the village. Naruto, because you have Icefire, you will be able to track him down faster. But, I am also going to send out a ground team, Kiba you will go with them. Kyuubi, though I wasn't expecting you to be out and about, you will go with Naruto and Icy. Find and return Sasuke at all costs, even if you have to kill him. Orochimaru plans to use his body as a container in three years, and I think that he just wants the Sharingan." Naruto nodded, as did everyone else. "Minato, do what you want. Even if I gave you orders, with your stubborness, you would ignore them and do what you wanted." the older blonde blushed slightly and grinned. Tsunade nodded and Kyuubi and Naruto jumped on Icy's back, the dragon taking off almost emeidiatly.

"Do you really think its wise to let them go after the Uchiha?"

"I don't know. But with Icy and Kyuubi there, Naruto might stand a chance." Minato sighed and disappeared in a flash of golden light to find Hinata. He would just wait until he though he was needed.

---Back with Naruto---

"What the hell was teme thinking?! That hebi-teme just wants to molest him to no end."

**"Shut up and keep looking. I can only do so much. I can't do all the searching and be your ride." **rebuked Icefire, a huge scowl on his face. **"I don't like this any more than you do, so quit your complaining. Kyuubi, you got anything?"**

"Nope. Nothin'. Where would he go? There's no where to hide that I know of that would hide him from ninja that may be searching for him."

**"Unless... he's going to the Valley of the End! Hold on tight. We're going to beat that bastard there and bring him back home." **Naruto and Kyuubi tightened their grips on the dragon's spikes as he sped up drasticly. When they reached the Valley of the End, they noticed that Sasuke was already trying to cross the border, and Icefire dove down, tackling the raven haired boy, and rolling over the side of one of the statues.

_**Ooooh, the suspence.**_

_**Kiba: Yay! I'm in the fic again.**_

_**Kyuubi: True, but you're the bringer of bad news.**_

_**Kiba: Shut it fox!**_

_**Icefire: Since when are you brave enough to challenge Kyuubi?**_

_**Naruto: Anyway, while they're bickering... Spirit does not own me, dog breath Furella de Vill or any other Naruto characters. Though, she does own Icy and Ryuu. CRASH!!! Shit! KYUUBI!! YOU CAN'T BURN KIBA!! NO ICY, DON'T THROW THAT!!**_

_**Me: Does it ever end? BANG!! Guess not. Review!**_


	12. Sasuke vs Naruto, Kyuubi, and Icefire

The Dragon's Cave and Other Adventures 

I own nothing 'cept the Ocs and this plot.

Chapter 11

Icefire leaped off Sasuke, skidding across the water's surface as he waited for Naruto and Kyuubi to make their move. No sooner was he out of the way did Kyuubi drop down, his paw balled into a fist, and covered in crimson flames. Sasuke just barely managed to dodge the potentualy deadly blow, but still got his arm singed.

Naruto then slammed into the raven, throwing him into the water, and punching him in the gut. Sasuke kicked Naruto away and broke through the surface, climbing out of the water to regain his breath. When the Uchiha looked up, Naruto was standing in the lead of the three, with Icefire just behind him, and Kyuubi kind of hanging back and to the side.

"So... they sent the heavy artilary? Even if you try dobe, you and your little pets won't stop me from going to Orochimaru." he said with venom dripping off every word. He noticed Icefire's head raise in surprise a little and he whispered something to Naruto.

**"Sasuke's been possesed by the curse mark. He is not in control of his actions." **Naruto nodded, and sent Icefire out to one side, and making Kyuubi back up a little. Sasuke watched as Naruto made several motions with his hands, almost like he was controling a puppet, and he felt something latch onto his back. That something had claws, very sharp claws. **"Hullo there. Glad to see me bastard?" **the Icefire he had been looking at earlier disappeared in a cloud of smoke, a kage bunshin. The real Icy had snuck behind him and waited for Naruto's signal. That wasn't all, Kyuubi was flashing through hand signs, enough to make Sasuke think that he was going to do a complicated jutsu.

"Suiton: Suriryuudan no Jutsu! (water release: water dragon bullet.)" a great pillar of water rose up behind the fox, and took the form of a dragon's head and neck. It shot to him and Icefire, ready to soak them head on. The very instant that the attack hit, Icefire released Sasuke and disappeared from behind him.

Sasuke was swept up in the torent of water, and tossed around enough to make him sick. When it finaly died down, he was spluttering water, and chocking back vomit. Before he could do anything there was an exclimation of: **"Amaterasu no Jutsu! (shining heaven jutsu)" **and he was blinded by a flash of light. He felt several punches and kicks land on his body, as well as slashes and bites.

The light died down, and Sasuke stumbled to his feet. "Damn, this guy just won't go down." muttered Kyuubi. Sasuke glanced around and didn't see anyone. He looked up to see Icefire with Naruto and Kyuubi on his back. The raven was being overwhelmed by them, and was starting to get desperate. He was bleeding from various wounds, and was bruised in various places, and was pretty sure that he had been kicked in the groin too.

Naruto leaped off of Icefire, and landed infront of Sasuke, who was letting the curse mark spread across his body. Kyuubi disappeared back into Naruto's body, pretty sure that he wouldn't be needed out here any more, and Icefire stayed hovering above the two.

"Sasuke, if you don't come back with us, then I just might have to get serious." Naruto growled. Sasuke's response was to activate his Sharingan, and flash through hand seals.

"Katon: Ryuuka no Jutsu! (fire release: dragon fire jutsu)" and spat out a stream of fire. Naruto dodged to the side to avoid being turned into Fried Naru, and powered up a Rasengan in his hand. Sasuke meanwhile was in the process of making a Chidori. They charged at each other and their jutsu's clashed, throwing both of them back. Naruto went through the water's surface and Sasuke just skidded until he disappeared under the water fall.

Naruto broke through the surface and spat out a couple mouth fulls. Sasuke just charged with a second Chidori. He rammed the attack through Naruto's chest, and smirked. His smirk disappeared when a red chakra started to swirl around the blonde. He watched as Naruto's fangs and claws grew, and the whisker marks darkened. Naruto's hair also got shaggier, and the blond started to growl.

Naruto grabbed Sasuke's arm and tightened his grip, making the raven flinch and pull back, holding his arm in pain. Naruto slumped noticably, but not enough to hide his healing shoulder.

_'His wounds are healing! What is he?' _thought the raven. Naruto's head slowly rose, to reveal blood thirsty red eyes, and a mouth filled with sharp fangs. The image of a roaring Kyuubi flashed infront of the blonde's face momentarily, making Sasuke wince at the power that Naruto was displaying. "What exactly are you?" he demanded.

Naruto crouched down, crossing his arms in an X shape infront of his chest. "Your friend." he growled. Sasuke's eyes widened and a bit of guilt flashed in his eyes. "I won't let Orochimaru have you! Even if I have to beat you sensless, I'm bringing you back!" he rose up and punched the air, sending out a wave of air that knock the raven off his feet.

Icefire once again grabbed him from behind, and held him still while Naruto gave him a sound beating. What amazed the raven them most was the fact that Naruto was actualy working with someone and that Icefire was standing on his hind legs like it was the most natural thing to him. Back to the fight...

Sasuke had flipped Icefire over, making him land on Naruto. Then, once the dragon was up, he blasted him back with a Katon jutsu, making the dragon hit the stone wall by the waterfall and slump to the ground, unconscience. That just made Naruto more angry than he already was.

The blonde charged the raven, punching him clean in the gut, and sendng him crashing into the cliffside. Diving after him, Naruto crouched down, and growled, "Have you come to your senses yet! Or do I have to break every bone in your body!?" Sasuke just pushed Naruto back, off the cliff side, and into the water.

Sasuke breathed in, and even though he didn't know it, gained the third tomoe in his Sharingan. Naruto created several shadow clones and they all charged the raven. Sasuke was able to dodge and destroy all of the clones. He gasped as he felt hands wrap around his ankles, and start to pull him under the water, then, a whip like chain of Naruto clones pulled him up and spun him around before smashing into the cliff.

The raven unleashed a powerful Katon jutsu, destroying all the clones. He looked on in horror as the one at the top didn't disappear, and the flames slowly died down. Naruto raised his head and gaped. "A-Amazing..." Sasuke's eyes flashed with guilt and disdain, before they hardened into the normal cold chips of ice that they were.

"You're too late Naruto!" he said, grabbing the blonde by his jumpsuit's collar, and throwing them both over the cliff. He grabbed the blonde, his head facing the fast approaching ground, and closed his eyes as Naruto's head impacted with the stone. Said blonde's head twitched, and his legs slumped to the ground, and into the water. Sasuke stumbled away, and colapsed, coughing up blood and saliva.

---In Naruto's Mind---

An unconscience Naruto appeared infront of Kyuubi's cage, floating limply in the water on the ground. Kyuubi's head rose and he looked down at the boy.

"Aww kit, I feel sorry for you. Having your best friend betray you like that must be hard. Well, seeing as you need it... I'll lend you more of my power." he said with pitty in his voice.

Naruto disappeared out of Kyuubi's cell, and back into the real world. Sasuke turned around as he felt a significant increase of chakra in the air. He turned around and saw a red substance raise up and surround Naruto. He walked up to the blonde, looking down at the raising form. Naruto's head snapped up and his fist flew forward and collided with Sasuke's face, sending the raven flying backwards.

The red chakra continued to surround the blonde until said blonde dropped onto all fours, growling like a fox. The chakra had formed ears on top of his head, and a single tail waving behind him. As soon as Sasuke stood up, Naruto charged at a new speed, one that Sasuke could barely dodge. The last blow that Naruto threw at him, threw the raven back, making him bounce off the water's surface.

_'I can predict his movements, but the chakra is moving in a different direction. Damn it Kyuubi, give him a way to beat me why don't you! Well, as long as I keep my distance, I should be fine.' _Boy was he wrong. Naruto brought his hand up and flung it forward, a chakra arm extending, and grabbing the Uchiha around his middle, and slamming him into the cliff.

Naruto then charged at the raven, running on all fours, and attacked Sasuke at close quarters, landing a solid blow in his face again. Sasuke stumbled to his feet, and started to run as a giant hand of red chakra rose up out of the water, and almost got him. He leaned against the rock wall and the curse mark started to spread even further. "Its true, you're special. But... I'm even more special." he said as the curse mark took over completely. His skin grew dark, and his hair turned purple, he even grew claws.

"Is that what you call special?! Being the toy of some gay pedophile who likes snakes too much?! That isn't special, that's mutant!" Naruto said before charging Sasuke again. This time, when the dust cleared, Naruto's claws were against a gaint hand-like wing. The wing twitched, and Naruto had just enough time to put his arms up before he was thrown back into the other statue's leg. He glanced over at Icefire's unconscience form and growled.

When he looked away, Sasuke had grown a second wing, making him look even more creepy than he already was. Naruto winced and growled. He couldn't feel his right hand, let alone move it.

"Kukuku... it seems you use that power at a rist too." Sasuke said. Naruto just powered up another Rasengan in his hand, baring his fangs. Sasuke formed a Chidori with a bit of dificulty, and it turned black, its roaring overpowering that of the waterfall. The two leaped at each other and thrust their attack in front of them. The two attacks collided, forming a huge ball of evil energy. The sphere expanded, smashing into the statues and into the water. Neither boy could go for the killing blow, so Naruto scratched Sasuke's head band, prooving that he could put a scratch on his forehead, and Sasuke's hand dove down and sliced into Naruto's shoulder.

The sphere disapated, and Naruto was laying on the ground next to Icefire, with Sasuke standing at his head. As Sasuke started to walk away, Icefire rose up, and punched Sasuke in the back of the head, effectivly knocking him out, before falling unconscience again himself.

Kakashi arrived a little while latter with Pakun. "Ahh, we're too late again."

"But look. Looks like the Uchiha collapsed." Pakun replied. Kakashi waited for the medical team to arrive because it would take more than just him to carry Naruto, Sasuke and Icefire back to the village. When they arrived, Kakashi breifed them, telling them to bring Icefire to the hospital too so Tsunade could look at him as well.

_**Phew! That took about... 1 ½ hours. Only a coulple more chappies to go. Ja!**_


	13. Confrontations and Adoptions

The Dragon's Cave and Other Adventures 

I own nothing 'cept the Ocs.

Chapter 12

"Ohh, my head. I feel like I was hit by a truck." moaned Sasuke. He was curently strapped down in a hospital bed after being brought back to the village. His eyes cracked open, and he yelped at the big blue blur hovoring above him.

**"No, but pretty damn close. I punched the back of your head hard enough to rival baa-chan."** said the blur. Sasuke's vission cleared enough to identify the blur as Icefire. The dragon was grinning down at him, a twinkle in his eyes. **"I've been guarding your sorry ass since I regained consceincness. We don't want the ice princess to be kidnapped now do we?"**

"Icefire? Where are we?" groaned the Uchiha

**"The hospital. When Kakashi brought you back and handed you to baa-chan, she found a way to remove your curse mark and heal any internal damage caused by it. Though, with your new cuncusion, you'll be bed ridden for a couple of weeks." **the dragon laughed sheepishly, his eyes closed.

"Where's Naruto?"

A very loud, "EEEEEHHHH!!!?? NANI!!!??" shook the window's of the hospital, and Icy had a feeling that Naruto found out about his appearance change. Icefire read his mind to see what his reaction was. Here's what he heard:

_'Kyuubi!! Kyuubi look at meee!!'_

_**"Oh so you like the change?"**_

_'No I don't like it! What happened to meee!!'_

_**"Well... when you used my power like that, I guess that it had a side effect."**_

_'How am I going to go any where like this?!'_

_**"Genjutsu?" **_Icefire and Kyuubi said at the same time. _**"Or a transformation." **_suggested the fox. Sasuke looked expectantly at Icefire and the dragon sighed.

**"When Naruto used Kyuubi's power to that extent during your battle, it kinda changed his appearance. He now has fox ears and a tail. Don't ask me why... so anyway! Wana go see?"**

"Uhh, sure, I suppose." Icefire cut the ropes that held him to the bed and led the way to Naruto's room. When they got there, Sasuke had to hold back a snort at Naruto's expression. It was sheer panic. The blonde was hiding under the sheets, with only his face showing. When he saw that it was just Icy and Sasuke he poked the rest of his head out.

"Hey!" Sasuke and Icy waved and continued to stare.

**"So, I'm guessing that you don't like your new features."**

"What do you think you walking purse!? Now I'm a dead man walking even more than I was before!"

**"Ok! The walking purse crack is just going too far!" **he leaped at the blonde and they disappeared in a cloud of dust with random limbs and head appearing now and then.

"THAT'S ENOUGH!!!" screamed Tsunade from the door way. The quarling boys stopped all motion. Icefire's mouth was opened ready to bite down on Naruto's leg, his own back leg pushing back Naruto's head. Naruto meanwhile had a kunai raised above the dragon's head and his free leg was holding said dragon's tail down. Icefire's free back leg had Naruto's newly aquired tail in a death grip and Naruto's ears were folded back.

Sasuke had to snort at the humorus scene while Tsunade burst into a fit of laughter. Sasuke noticed that now that the curse seal was gone, he didn't feel power hungry or any thing of the sort, and had a strong want to protect his precious people. Infact, he had a sudden urge to join Naruto and Icy on one of their pranking sprees. Rolling his eyes and dismissing the thought as pure rubbish, he pulled Naruto off Icefire and vice versa. They still glared and growled at each other—yes Naruto was growling too—and Tsunade stopped laughing.

"Now that you seem well enough, you may go home. Sasuke, you will be joining Naruto at his house until further notice." Sasuke shot her a 'you've got to be kidding me' look and scowled. "Yes you will Sasuke, we don't want you running off on us again, or being kidnapped by Orochimaru's goons." snorting, the raven dropped the two growling boys and leaned against the bed.

"But baa-chan, now that my dad is back, we don't have any spare rooms! Ryuu has to sleep on the couch!"

**"Ahh, but we can always make teme sleep in a sleeping bag on the floor." **Naruto nodded while Sasuke looked indignant.

"Who is your dad anyway dobe?" speak of the devil and he will appear. No sooner had Sasuke asked the question did Minato appear in Naruto's hospital room, grinning like an idiot. Just. Like. His. Son.

"That would be him." the younger blonde said pointing at his father, "Minato Namikaze, the Yondaime Hokage of Konahakure."

"Yo."

"Wait, wait. I thought the Yondaime was dead!" Sasuke inquired.

"So did I till he appeared on my doorstep last week. We've been out for a while." Sasuke took a second to take in Naruto's wounds. Most of them had already healed, but his forehead and hands were wrapped up, and Sasuke could see bandages around the blonde's ankles. Then Icy had bandages on several places on his folded wings, as well as wrapped around his middle in several places. He was missing several spikes from his back, and a chip was missing out of his arrow shaped tail. The raven winced. _'Did I do all of this?'_

Minato picked Naruto up by his tail—which seemed to be a handy handle—and started walking out the door. Icefire slid his head between Sasuke's legs, to where he slid onto the dragon's back and followed the former Yondaime. Sasuke noticed that Icy was limping slightly—probaly due to the splint on his back leg, eh, the one that was pushing against Naruto's face earlier.

"What happened to your leg?" the raven asked. He didn't remember doing any damage to the dragon's legs. Only his wings and main body.

**"Sakura happened. She was upset that you were injured in the way you were and needed to vent some anger and energy. And guess who she vented it on!"**

"Uh, you?"

**"Me!! And I didn't even do anything! She brought an axe kick down on my leg while I was in a daze while we were sparing and it shattered it in several places. I'll be in this splint for a month or so. Dragons don't have that healing chakra that makes demons so special so we heal only slightly faster than humans."**

Sasuke nodded at this and watched the villagers as he rode on the dragon's back. People were glaring at Naruto who was still hanging upside down by his tail in his father's grip. They were also staring wide eyed at Minato, as though they couldn't belive that he was alive. Some even called out to him. Sasuke's ears picked up muttered curses directed at Naruto and Icefire. Such as, 'look at that. The demon is finaly showing his true self.' and 'that lousy lizard has corupted Uchiha-san. Him and the monster.' Icefire heard that one, politely asked Sasuke to get off his back, and lunged at the villagers who were beginning to form a mob behind them.

Sasuke was surprised that he could still move that fast with a splint on his leg, then he noticed how he was carying it. Instead of walking on it, he held it up by his side, like he did when he was flying.

Icefire roared in fury and glared at the villagers. Minato stopped and turned around to see Icy confronting the villagers. An aurora of malice surrounded the dragon and his chakra spilled out of his body and surrounded him in a blue dragon shape—that makes sense right, he is a dragon. Growling at them, he stalked forward, snapping at anyone within range.

Naruto tugged on his tail and dropped out of Minato's grasp, landing on his feet. He went to Icefire and grabbed him around the neck, pulling the angry dragon back.

"Don't. They're not worth it." he muttered. Icy's chakra disipated and he snorted, still glaring at the villagers. Turning around slowly, he limped back to Sasuke, who carefuly got on his back, and followed Minato and Naruto back to their small house. Every now and then, Icefire would growl something incoharent, or snort. It was obvious that his anger was still there, but bottled up.

A glass bottle was thrown at the dragon, but he caught it with his tail and threw it back at the person who threw it in the first place. He wanted to rip the guy apart, but the thought was promptly hit over the head, tied up, and put in a waiting room in the dragon's mind.

Instead of leading them to Naruto's house, Minato took a detour to the richer part of Konoha, and stopped infront of a huge complex. It was bigger than the Uchiha complex and Sasuke gaped at it.

"Why are we here?" asked Naruto. Minato led them through the gates and to the main house.

"This is where we are going to live. Its the Namikaze-Uzumaki compound. One of the biggest complexes in the village." Naruto gaped and glanced at Icy—who had an innocent but not innocent look on his face—and narrowed his eyes.

"You knew?!"

**"Yup! I've been in the waking world longer than you two so I helped Hinata-chan, Ryuu, and Minato move our things here. It didn't take long really. And another thing, Minato—being the person with a big heart that he is—decided that Sasuke shouldn't be living on his own at such a young age, so he adopted him." ** Sasuke leand forward on the dragon's back and looked said dragon directly in the eyes.

"You're kidding, right." Icy shook his head and grinned. Sasuke leaned back and sighed. "Well, it would be nice to have a family again. I've been alone for too long."

**"Not true. You've had a family all your life. Even if your blood bonds were demolished, you were never alone. Why do you think Naruto always wanted to spar with you? Both him, me, Ryuu, and Kyuubi concider you a brother, Hinata-chan conciders you a brother too. Baa-chan thinks of you as a son as well as the idiotic Hokage here." **said the dragon. Sasuke could feel something wet on his cheeks, and wiped his eyes. He was crying with joy, something that he hadn't done in many years. **"And Naruto, Ero-senin told me to tell you that when we were recovered, we were going with him on a three year training mission."**

"Really?! Well, I should be fine in a couple of days. You is who I'm worried about." replied the blonde.

**"Ah, I'm fine. Just a bunch of scratches and a busted leg. I'm getting around just fine as you can see."**

"Yes, a busted leg. You won't be able to travel the distances that sensei likes to go every day." Minato pointed out. "And I highly doubt that you will be able to handle the training."

**"Who said anything about me training?! I'm just going to keep Naruto safe and to be transportation, lugage carier, and sparing partner. I don't need training."**

"Your concidered a ten year old in dragon years you know." Sasuke felt the dragon's scales heat up and guessed that meant that he was blushing.

"He is?!" exclaimed both genin. Icy's scales heated up more, and Sasuke figured that he was going to pass out from too much blood rushing to his head.

**"Yes I am. But that doesn't mean that I need to act it. After all, in human years, I'm... 1792? I think. That and I'm smarter than you three and Shikamaru combined." **the dragon snorted and brushed past them and into the main house of the complex, Sasuke still on his back.

**_Alright... one more chappie left. Then I'll get started on the sequel after a while. Review!_**


	14. Gaurd Duty and Departure

The Dragon's Cave and Other Adventures 

This is the last chappie folks! And for those of you that read 'Warriors' think of Icefire's injury as Cinderpelt's. In about a month, I'll get the sequel 'Dragon Hurricane' up! Enjoy...

Chapter 13

Only God knows how Icefire got himself into this mess. He was on the night shift, guarding Tsunade, because he had volentired. Volentired! Naruto said that he was going to join him, but had skipped out on him to get ramen with his dad. Sighing and shifting his splinted leg into a more comfortable position, he leaned against the wall and closed his eyes. He could hear Tsunade complaining behind the closed door, her voice heavy with alcohol.

Hearing footsteps from down the hall, the dragon stood up and tensed. He relaxed again when Naruto came around the corner holding a cup of instant ramen for the dragon.

**"You were supposed to be here two hours ago. Kakashi's rubbing off on you, I just know it."** he deadpanned in a dangerous tone.

"Sorry, I went to get ramen with dad and lost track of the time."

**"More like you skipped out on me. Do you have any idea how boring it is to be guarding a drunken Hokage? Nothing interesting ever happens." **holding the cup of ramen gingerly in his hand, he slurped it down slowly listening to Naruto rant on about this and that.

"And how would you know that the night shift is boring when you're doing guard duty? This is your first time doing it."

**"Not true. I was asked to guard the Lord of the Fire country a couple of decades ago. And that time I didn't have someone to talk to. Unless you counted the suit of armor that I was sitting next to." **retorted the dragon.

"Ero-senin is supposed to show up tomorrow to bring us on that training trip." the blonde noticed that Icefire had something else on his mind. He followed the dragon's gaze to his splinted leg and frowned. "There's something you're not telling me, isn't there?" he asked softly.

**"Baa-chan said that because of how many places my leg had been shattered, I won't be able to walk normaly ever again. I'll have a permanent limp, unless some mirical happens of course." **he said, his ice blue eyes half lidded. Sighing, Icefire laid down, his injured leg sticking out awkwardly, and closed is eyes again. Naruto could tell he wan't asleep, normaly when ever Icy wanted to think in peace, he would close his eyes and look asleep. Naruto leaned his back against the wall and sighed. Icy was right, night duty was boring.

Tracing his fingers lightly around the scars that remained from their fight against Sasuke on the dragon's back, Naruto thought about how said dragon's handicap might effect them both. Sure he still has speed and power, but because of the new limp, both were deminished drasticly. Icefire couldn't fly everwhere, he would get tired to fast.

"Isn't there any way for Baa-chan to heal your leg corectly?" he asked softly. He wanted his friend to be happy, and would do any thing to do so.

**"Don't you think that she would have tried every thing she could already?" **he replied, his voice sour. **"She's not a mirical worker, or Kami. Ah, this wound won't make much of a diffrence to me anyway." **turning away from the blonde, Icefire grunted and stared blankly at the wall infront of him. Naruto noticed for the first time since he met Icefire that he looked like a cross over between an easern and western dragon. Every bit of him except his black claws was blue, and he had a bit of fur on his neck and back. His tail was about as long as his body and his neck was about half of that. Naruto was surprised that he never noticed that, and raised an eyebrow slightly.

Flicking his golden tail slightly, the blonde stood up and stretched. He silently opened the door to Tsunade's office to see the Gondaime fast asleep, a sake bottle hanging loosly from her hand. Snickering, the blonde crept into the office, taking the sake bottle out of her hand and replacing it with a paper wheight. Taking a scroll out of his pocket, the opened it and scanned it for the right item. When he found it, he bit his thumb and swiped it on the correct summon, and in it's place was a large bottle of soap. Taking all of her sake bottles and dumping their contents out the window, he filled them back up with the soap and put them back in their respective places. Creeping back out the door, he closed it quietly and sat down snickering.

Icefire raised his head and shook it slightly. **"You didn't..." **

"You better belive it!"

**"So, what did you replace her sake with this time?"**

"Hand soap."

**"You're a dead man. And that means I'm a dead man. Think before you act!" **rebuked the dragon with a snort. Standing up, he limped down the hall, saying that he needed some fresh air and to streatch his muscles. He was really going to go home and sleep, but if he told Naruto that, he would hit the dragon, tie him up, and plop him down on hot coals for the rest of the night.

Sprinting the best he could, the ice dragon made it to the Namikaze-Uzumaki compound in record time. Opening the door, the quietly made his way to his room and settled down in the comfortable bed, falling into a deep sleep quickly.

----The Next Morning----

"ICEFIRE!!!! YOU'RE DEAD!!!" Naruto boomed as he stormed into the main house. He had been waiting for the ANBU that guard Tsunade during the day to show up for five hours before that, that way, he could strangle Icefire and not get in trouble. Aformentioned dragon hid under his bed and held completely still. Searching throughout the complex, Naruto spent a good portion of his morning looking for the dragon before he ran into Sasuke. "Have you seen that teme-dragon any where?"

"Uh, no? Why?"

"I'm going to fucking kill him! He told me that he was going to get some fresh air, but I waited for five hours and he never showed up!! I asume that he came back here to get some sleep."

"Why don't you sniff him out?"

Naruto blinked. "Never thought of that." following Icefire's scent trail, the fox boy charged straight to said dragon's room. Icefire meanwhile opened his window and slipped out side, taking to the skies and hiding somewhere in the forest. He was not going to die young! Surprisingly enough, he ran into Ero-senin (I call him that because I can't spell his name) and followed him back to the village.

Naruto stomped back to the den and sank down into a chair, growling in frustration. "When he shows his sorry scaled hide, I'm turning him into a pair of boots." he muttered. Minato walked in at that point in time and snickered. His son would never see this coming. Doing a quick summoning jutsu, he sent Gamakichi around behind the chair that Naruto was sitting in. Gamakichi then leaped onto Naruto's head from behind and nearly gave the fox boy a heart attack.

As Naruto was trying to get Gamakichi off his head, the door bell rang and Sasuke went to answere it. Ero-senin followed him into the den to see Naruto tugging on a poor innocent toad. Icefire meanwhile went the complete opposite direction, into the kitchen.

Explaing the training mission to Naruto—who had gotten Gamakichi off his head—Ero-senin made the blonde fox boy that he wouldn't kill Icefire and had the dragon come back into the den. Naruto emeidiatly tackled the dragon, wrapping his arms around his neck in a choke-hole.

**"I thought you said you weren't going to kill me?!" **he managed to choke out.

"Hey, I'm part fox now, I find loop-holes. Ero-senin never said that I couldn't mortaly wound you." he growled with an evil look in his eyes.

**"If you mortaly wound me, the training mission is going to be delayed until I recover." **retorted the dragon, his scales turning purple. Naruto let go of him at this point, and the dragon dropped to the ground gasping for air. **"Sweet Jesus air!" **he gasped. Glaring at the shorter blonde, he stood up as straight as he could and snorted. **"I will be at the south gates if anyone needs me." **he said in a sour tone as he limped out the door.

"What's wrong with him?" asked Sasuke.

"Baa-chan said that because of how many places his leg was shattered, he will have a permanent limp. It's going to slow him down and diminish his power drasticly. He must be taking it harder than I thought." Naruto replied. "I'll go pack." with that, he sprinted to his room and quickly threw some clothes, scrolls, and extra wepons in his back pack, racing out the door and to the south gates in only thirty minutes.

Ero-senin arrived about ten minutes later and they started off. Naruto took one last long look at the village when they reached the top of a large hill. _'I'll be home soon.' _he thought as he ran to catch up with the dragon and his new sensei.

---oXo---

Though some say that you can get stronger by hard work, others say that you can get stronger by just trying new things. For those of you with handicaps, it doesn't matter what you do, you can be strong in your own way if you just try new things, or just plain try. Icefire found this out. His permanent limp made it hard for him to do things that he wanted to do, but he kept trucking, never giving up and always trying his hardest.

In time, his limp lessened, to where it wasn't as noticeable. It was still there, and you could still see it as he walked and run clearly, but it wasn't as bad as it was at first. Because of his handicap, he became stronger and faster than he had been before, and was able to live normaly again. He doesn't blame Sakura for what she did, she hadn't been paying attention to how much power she put behind her blow when she shattered the dragon's leg, and had been very sorry for it. How ever, Icefire does hold a small grudge. It was her fault that he was limping like he was, and deep down, he wanted to return the favour. The dragon always ignored these feelings, and continued with his training.

--Bloodfire, Leader of the Ryuu Clan

_**There you go! That's the story. And if your wondering who Bloodfire is, you'll find out some time in the sequel if you decid to read it. Reveiw! Ja!**_


End file.
